Business As Usual
by Miyamashi
Summary: The prequel to White Flag, chronicling Reno and Rufus' relationship from Reno's admission to the Turks to the point of Weapon's attack on Midgar. Runo: RenoXRufus. Citrus: Grapefruit OR LemonLime. Now Complete!
1. Welcome To Shinra Inc

_**Business As Usual**_

**Chapter #1: Welcome To Shinra Inc.**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Long-as-Hell Note: For those of you new to BAU, welcome! For my returning fans, I'm really happy that I'm finally getting off my ass and doing this. This is the REVISED version of Chapter 1, which I'm submitting partly as inadequate compensation for not updating in FOREVER, as I've been doing (not doing?) a lot lately, and partly as a teaser for the fact that I'm actually actively working to make this better. I'll probably get a better version of the horrid Chapter 10 up, too, eventually, though the others won't be updated, because I'm planning on trying to harass poor Squenix until they give in and endorse it so I can publish, on the urges of a surprisingly large amount of people, including my…English Comp. 1302 teacher last year? (That really surprised me.) and I don't want to give all of it away if I succeed!**

**I reposted this chapter when I looked at the old one and realized that there were a lot of awkward moments. Plus, I'm going through all of the old chapters and adding in little monologues from Reno's POV as intros to better tie them in to White Flag.**

**If you haven't visited before, this is the prequel to my one-shot _White Flag_, which is meant to be read before this, as its prologue. It blatantly and purposely states how the story ends (not counting the sequel that will eventually be written, too), and is hinted at all the way through this one. Please read that, first, if you haven't yet.**

**And I still don't own FF7 or any of the things and places and characters originally in FF7, Squenix does. I do, however, own the flurry of twisted ideas and original characters who live in BAU and BAU alone, and will find and throttle anyone who attempts to steal them. **

**Fandom: FF7**

**Coupling: RenoXRufus**

**Rating: M for Mature, or R for language, violence, and…adult themes (like SEX!)**

**Genre: Listed as Romance/Tragedy, but has a bit of everything…just call it friggin' EPIC.**

**Warning: Has gay…well, sort of. You'll see what I mean. Does, however, have blatant man-on-man-ness, which most would consider gay, all things…considered.**

**I'll shut up now.**

* * *

Shinra Electric Power Company is the biggest and most powerful corporation in Gaia, and I've worked for 'em for most of my life, or at least the parts of it I can remember. Since I got out of the shithole I used to call home, I've been a part of the Shinra army--yeah, the _power company_ has a military--SOLDIER.

Don't ask me what it stands for. I forgot.

It paid a good fee, had nice, unstable hours, and let me get off some extra steam when we went on missions. But I was looking for something more. I needed a change from some of the shit I had to deal with in SOLDIER, and that's when I heard about the Turks.

That one I do know. Turks, or T.U.R.K.S. stand for Tactical Urban Reconnaissance and Killing Specialists. They use the nickname more casually, though.

They weren't an ordinary military. They were the special forces. It actually took brains to get into there, not just the ability to slash someone up or fire a bunch of machine gun rounds randomly into the air.

And they needed a new member. Long time ago, Turks lost their best member, Vincent Valentine to some scandal that had pissed the higher-ups off. Some say the science department got hold of him, and some say that the company president had him killed off. I don't really care either way. I didn't know the guy, so it doesn't matter to me.

All that I could tell was that things were finally heating up enough again after years without Valentine for them to need someone new who could _actually_ take his place, instead of the incompetent rookies they'd been filling in with.

All of them croaked too, they say.

Oh, well. It sounded exciting to me. I would get in, even if I had to pull some strings to do it.

After all, pulling strings is my specialty.

* * *

"You," called the guard standing beside the door to a slim man leaning nonchalantly in front of him. "You're next."

The slim man shuffled forward with the casual air of someone who was doing something so simple as buying lunch at his favorite restaurant, and stepped through the door, pushing a stray lock of messy, blood-red hair out of his face. It flopped back, just as he'd known in the back of his mind that it would when he had moved it. He was wearing a SOLDIER uniform without the helmet, the blue cloth in between the armor rumpled.

"So, you think you have what it takes to be a Turk," stated, rather than asked, the man behind the desk, obviously very bored. The candidate took in his surroundings quickly, noting the nameplate on the black-haired man's desk. 'So, this is Tseng, leader of the Turks,' thought the slim man. 'Straight to the source.'

"Wouldn't be here if I didn't," replied the redhead, who looked remarkably taller than he actually was, with a confident grin as he leaned against the desk, unable to resist staring at the dot on his superior's head and chuckling inwardly. Tseng scowled.

"Name?"

"Reno."

"First name?"

"Reno's my first name. Kiribani's the last."

"Age?"

"Dunno. It's hard to keep track of the years when you've lived in the slums for most of your life. I think I might be in my early twenties."

"You are in SOLDIER, correct?"

"Yup."

"What is your rank?"

"I'm a grunt."

Tseng furrowed his brow. He had been interviewing what he had eventually deemed 'slick-sleeved know-nothings' all day, and he sunk into his desk chair, putting his head into his hand and letting out an audible sigh.

"If you want to know, it's because my tight-ass of an officer keeps demoting me," said Reno, though it was quite obvious that Tseng didn't want to know in the least. "Stupid stuff like me not wearing my uniform correctly and flickin' him off when he complains."

"I've heard enough. You. Out."

"Oh, no, sir. This isn't all. I'm not leaving until I convince you that I'm a Turk."

"That's not going to happen, so I guess you're going to be in here for the rest of your life."

"I don't think that's true."

"Oh? Really?"

"Well, you see, sir, I'm really stubborn and obnoxious, and I'll keep at it until you admit me."

"Get. Out."

"Plus," stated Reno, ignoring his superior completely, "I have some information that you might not want me to spread."

"Of course you do," Tseng remarked exasperatedly.

"You see," Reno said, pulling a disk out of his SOLDIER uniform, "this disc contains information on my aforementioned tight-ass officer, and on you and the other Turks. I thought that you might like to know that he--the officer, of course--has been allied with a resistance movement against Shinra for over a month now. I saved his outgoing messages. By the way, who is Aeris?"

Tseng stared at Reno, dumbfounded, before replying with a simple "She's a childhood friend."

"Been helping her lay low, eh? What's she wanted for? It's a bit creepy, you know, that the scientists are looking for this chick. Is she some kind of experiment or something? Sounds like you've got the hots for her, too. Is she bionically enhanced? That would be pretty sexy, in my opinion."

Tseng ignored the second half of Reno's blatherings, concentrating instead on the amazing fact that he knew anything about the woman named Aeris at all. "How do you…?"

"Told you. Outgoing messages. Hacked 'em. You shouldn't leave incriminating things like that on your computer."

"Give me the disk."

"Now, why would I do that? If I give you the disk, that blows my guarantee into the Turks."

"You're going to blackmail me into hiring you?"

"That's the idea."

Tseng paused.

"Blackmail. I like it. You're perfect for the job: Crafty and devoid of morals."

Reno grinned and tossed the disk to Tseng, who looked at it for a moment before he laughed.

"But, you're stupid. Tricky, but stupid. I haven't even hired you yet. I could just destroy the disk and leave you as a grunt."

"Open the files."

"What?"

"I said Open. The. Files."

Tseng leaned back in his chair and slipped the disk into his computer warily. Almost immediately, the screen flashed and blacked out.

"Shouldn't have trusted me. It's a virus. It's practically rearranging everything in your computer as we speak. The real disk is still in my pocket."

And, just to prove it, he pulled out a second disk.

"You're lying."

"Maybe."

Tseng grimaced and pulled the disk out of his computer and practically flung it at Reno. Reno grinned even more broadly.

"Just hire me already. You're breaking. I can see it."

Tseng didn't even hear, as he was staring at his computer screen in shock. A window had appeared, reading, "Transfer to disk complete. Thank you and have a nice day. -R"

Reno laughed at him.

"I hate computers," Tseng grumbled.

"So? Tell me what I want to hear before you get yourself into even deeper shit."

Tseng stared incredulously at the redhead before feebly mouthing "You're hired."

"Thanks, Boss." Reno began to leave. "Oh, and I think that you might want the contents of your computer. You might need them for something."

Tseng nearly missed catching the disk as he watched Reno's retreating back. "That's your first mission," Tseng hissed futilely at the air. "I will make you fix this if I have to throttle you to do it."

* * *

"I hear that he's positively _dreamy_, Malita."

"Well, I sure hope so, seeing as I've been roped into going on a date with the guy. At least he's rich."

"Rich is an understatement!"

Malita and her best friend, a slinky woman in a blue dress named Leiza, sat in the 61'st floor café of the Shinra building, gossiping as many of the women and men did when they were bored, which was quite often when one had one of the less appealing jobs. Malita was a barmaid, as well as the manager, and Leiza one of the waitresses in her café.

"If he looks anything like his father, I don't want anything to do with him."

"Like I _said_, Malita, he's supposed to be quite the sight."

"You know he's going to want me to sleep with him. That is the point, right? Carry on the Shinra legacy?"

"That's what the Pres. said."

"Well, it can't be too bad being in bed with that guy if he really is all that dreamy."

"Oh! Is that _him_?" asked Leiza suddenly as she pointed to a strawberry-blonde man in white who had just walked in from the elevator.

"I don't know, but I sure hope so…he _is_ dreamy."

Rufus Shinra stepped into the dreary café to find it nearly empty, save for two tables. One had a lone janitor at it, who was eating a sandwich, while the other had two flaky-looking women who were gushing and pointing at him.

'She must be one of them. Leave it to Father to pick the bright ones,' Rufus thought to himself as he strode over, his facial expression failing to betray his annoyance.

"Is one of you Malita Cunningham?"

The girl in blue grinned and pushed the other, who Rufus had to admit was quite pretty, albeit a bit slutty, in her short black dress, toward him.

"I…I am, Mr. Shinra," said Malita nervously, but with a hungry glint in her eye, as she stood and took the strawberry blonde's extended hand.

"Please, call me Rufus," he stated dryly. "Shinra is my father, not me." Leiza caught a squeal halfway through. Malita bubbled excitedly.

The blonde smiled slightly, and the narrowing of his blue eyes, which reminded Malita of an iced drink, caught the girls quite off guard.

"Now, excuse me, ladies, and thank you for the lovely date, but I must be going," he said calmly. "Tell my father that you were a good fuck, alright? In fact, tell him that I screwed both of you. He'll like that."

And Rufus simply left, leaving behind a broken Malita and her shocked best friend.

* * *

"And do you know what he _said_ to me?!" Reno heard the barmaid screech as he sipped his drink.

"What?" asked the man who was sitting beside Reno at the bar. With a chuckle, the novice Turk noticed that the man wasn't even listening as his eyes followed the barmaid's unnaturally large amount of cleavage.

"He told me to tell his father that I was a _good fuck._" Reno thought she looked as if she were about to explode, and she practically did, screaming loudly enough to catch the attention of the entire café. "A _GOOD FUCK, damnit! He just walked in, introduced himself and told me that! Then he said to tell his bastard father that he'd slept with me AND Leiza, just for good measure!" _

Reno scooted to a different barstool in a futile attempt to save his ears.

"Damn," he muttered to himself as he ordered another drink. "Who're you talking about?" Reno asked the barmaid.

"That Shinra brat, Rufus!" Malita yelled down the bar at him.

"Daaaaamn," Reno muttered again, before downing half of his drink in one gulp. "Burned by the V.P."

"You Reno?" came a voice from behind the redhead.

"Yeah, that's me," said Reno as he swiveled around to face the voice's owner. Judging by his uniform, the man was obviously a Turk, and he was tall and wore dark sunglasses that covered his eyes completely. Reno identified this as an intimidation method, as it made it impossible to tell what the larger Turk was thinking. In direct contrast to Reno, whose red hair stuck out in every which-way, this man was completely bald, save for the beginnings of a goatee. He looked remarkably like a thug.

"Training."

"Man of few words, huh?"

The bald man grunted and turned around, using his forefinger to indicate that Reno should follow.

"Well, you could at least introduce yourself. Isn't it a bit rude not to?"

"I'm Rude."

"Obviously."

The man stopped and turned.

"No. _I'm_ Rude. Rude is my _name_."

"_Weird_ name."

"Not as weird as the full version."

"Oh. What's it short for?"

"I can't tell you that. I would have to kill you."

And Rude turned and walked silently into the elevator. Reno followed.

"So, uh, what's this training involve?"

Silence.

"Is it tough?"

Still silence.

Reno frowned, suddenly getting the impression that he had been quite lucky to have gotten this Rude to have talked to him at all, and leaned against the elevator wall as he watched the world outside ascend quickly as he and his new co-worker dropped down steadily, story by story. The elevator passed the plates, then the ground, and then stopped abruptly. Reno stumbled. Rude stood solidly.

The doors opened, and Reno could hear shots echoing throughout the cavernous underground training area. The place distinctly reminded him of every parking garage that he'd ever been to, gunshots and all.

"Can you use a gun?" asked Tseng as he stopped his own shooting practice and strode over to Reno. The new Turk noticed that the sound of shots hadn't stopped.

"Never been too great with 'em, but I can shoot something down if I need to."

"Then shoot. The target is over there." Tseng tossed his gun to Reno and pointed to the range.

Reno strode over, aimed, and fired, effectively missing the target completely.

"And you're sure that he's Turk material?" Rude asked, lowering his sunglasses and sending an askew glance in Reno's direction.

"So he's a bad shot…there are other weapons."

"Hey, who's the other guy? Is he another Turk?" the redhead asked, pointing to a man down the line who was demolishing his target angrily with a sawed-off shotgun. "If he's not, he should be…the guy's firing a shotgun with one hand!"

At that instant, the man with the shotgun yelled and flung his empty weapon full-force at the target, finally breaking it off of its stand.

"I really don't want to ever get him angry at me…" Reno grumbled, staring at the man.

"You're right," Tseng stated, "because if you did, he'd fire you, shoot you down, and then throw you out of his office window."

Reno grimaced. "That bad, huh?"

Tseng walked over to the range, where the man was currently in the process of retrieving his gun, and called to him, albeit nervously.

"What the hell do you want, Tseng? Can't you see that I'm busy?" came the reply.

"Who _is_ he?" Reno whispered to Rude at Tseng got thoroughly chewed out.

"Him? That's the Vice President. He comes down here when he needs to let off steam. Usually, this place is reserved for Turks, but there's not much that we can do about that, is there?"

"Daaaaaaaaaaammmn…" Reno grimaced as Vice President Rufus reloaded his shotgun, firing it off with a yell that echoed through the concrete-and-steel training area and set Tseng backing up slowly. "He has a temper, doesn't he?"

"Don't say that to his face. Unlike you, he's a good shot."

"Obviously."

Reno was sincerely glad that Tseng had been the one to interview him, and not Rufus, as the newest Turk had heard numerous horror stories about times when the Vice President would take over leadership positions within Turk ranks. From the rumors, people usually ended up getting hurt.

"Sir, I found the new member. I don't know yet if he'll match up to Valentine's standards, but I think he has potential," Tseng interjected as Rufus took a break to reload again.

"It has been years since your force has had anybody who has even come close to reaching Valentine's level. I hope that this man is different, for your sake more than mine. You know that I do not enjoy having to interfere in Turk affairs for menial reasons."

Rufus lowered his weapon and strode over to where the Turks were standing, flicking one stray shock of hair out from in front of his left eye. "So, is this him?" he asked, looking Reno over from head to foot, eventually settling on his hair with a slight frown.

"Yes, sir. This is Reno Kiribani."

"Reno, eh?" Rufus held out his hand and Reno shook it tentatively. "I am Rufus Shinra, in case you don't already know. 'Sir' or "Vice President Rufus' will do, but _never_ call me 'Shinra'."

"Okay…Sir." Reno kept his eyes locked with Rufus' icy glare, which had become even more cold when the V.P. had mentioned his own last name.

"Rufus Shinra, please report to the President's office. Rufus Shinra, please report to the President's office. You are wanted immediately. Rufus Shinra, please…" came the voice over the intercom.

Rufus' head snapped upwards quickly to face the announcement's origin, his hair brushing over his shoulders in a fashion that screamed of wealthy elegance. "Yes, yes, I know, Janice," shouted Rufus to the intercom, in what seemed like an attempt to drown out the voice of the woman that was echoing through the training area.

Reno watched as the Vice President stormed into the elevator with an odd kind of graceful stride, heading for his father's office.

Reno murmured to himself as he watched the elevator doors shut. "That guy is…weird."

Tseng broke the short silence that followed. "Now, to figure out what to do with you."

* * *

"You did WHAT?" screamed President Shinra, as his son stood stony-faced before him.

"Whatever do you mean, Father?" Rufus asked, emotionless.

"I hear from some of the men that I have roaming the halls that you were being a smart-ass, Rufus. That bar-girl that I told you to meet was complaining that you told her to give me a little _message_, then left."

Rufus didn't flinch. Instead, he continued to stand in front of his father's desk, staring the man straight in the eyes.

"You _insolent _boy," hissed President Shinra. "You _will _take a wife, and you _will_ bear a son. Is that clear?"

"Why instead do you not just get Scarlet pregnant and have a _new _son? I'm sure _she_ would like that. Then, you can kill me off and save me from having to stare at your ugly face every day."

"It's getting to the point where I'm sincerely tempted to do so, _boy_, so you had better take the next woman that I give to you and continue the Shinra legacy."

"Then, I can be _just like you_, screwing a woman that I don't even know so that she can pop out a kid that I can scream at and train to be a heartless monster. Then, I can kill off my wife, too, just so that I can be like my dear old Pop."

"That's the way the world _works_, boy, so you had better get used to it."

"Whatever you _say_, Father," said Rufus, the sarcasm evident in his voice as he growled the last word.

"You insolent _wretch!"_ President Shinra screamed, standing from his desk and storming up to his son. He brought his elbow hard across Rufus' head, his sheer bulk making the blow stronger than it should have been. Rufus was unable to stop himself as he fell to the ground, forcing himself to hang onto the edge of consciousness.

"Janice, call someone to clean this mess out of my office," stated President Shinra through the intercom on his desk.

* * *

The janitor who had been at the cafe when Malita and Leiza had eagerly awaited Rufus' arrival walked nervously into the President's office to find Rufus himself on the floor, his eyes glazed over and a small stream of blood running from his hairline.

"What the…?" asked the janitor to nobody in particular.

"I want that _thing _out of my office," stated Shinra impatiently, neglecting to look up from a pile of paperwork that he signed with an annoyed scritching of a pen. The janitor stood for a moment before picking Rufus up from the ground, the young V.P.'s arm over his shoulder.

Outside of the door, the janitor sat Rufus' now unconscious form on the ground, the blonde's back propped against a wall, as he went to find help.

"I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for the kid or not," he muttered to himself as he searched desperately for assistance.

* * *

Miya's Note: I hope you all enjoyed. For those of you who read the original, was it better:D 


	2. Life Behind The Scenes

**Business As Usual:**

**Chapter 2**

**By Miyamashi**

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* * *

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**Miya's Note: Well, no requests for name change, and I've started to warm up to the current title, so it stays. (unless somebody comes up with an absolutely FABULOUS title!) I don't like this chapter as much as the last one, but that's just me. Tell me what you think!**

**To Gothic Yokai: About citrus…mmmn…I like citrus…(the real kind…I'm an Orange Juice Addict) I dunno if there will be any. I'm writing this fic completely randomly. I only know how it's going to end. The rest is just coming as I see fit. (That's how all of my best fics come about...) A Lime is probably the most explicit this is going to get, but I really don't know.**

**My thanks also to both pewp and** **Mashimaro-Byul-012.**

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"What'd you say to him this time?" asked the doctor as Rufus came to.

"None of your damn business," came the reply.

"Well, that's a good sign. Acting like your usual cranky self. You really need to stop pissing your father off like that. I think that your thick head is the only thing keeping you from getting a serious concussion."

"You are so lucky that you're the only good doctor in Midgar, or you would be dead by now with that kind of talk," Rufus grunted, obviously at least partially used to his doctor's blatant insults.

The doctor chuckled. "You need to rest. Goodnight."

"Eh," was all that Rufus said as he rolled onto his side.

* * *

"Sir?" came the voice from behind Rufus' head. He rolled over to see the new Turk standing with his head through the privacy curtain.

"Kiribani? You know that the curtain is there for a reason, don't you?"

"Sorry Sir. Just curious."

Rufus paused before propping himself up on the back of the bed. He threw his arms up in defeat.

"I didn't know it was you, Sir," Reno said almost sheepishly, an expression that didn't suit his rebellious appearance.

"So you thought you'd just pop your head in to check? What if I had been dying and had wanted some last minute peace before I joined the Lifestream? Or, what if I had been your _boss_, who _didn't want anybody, especially not his **employees**, to see him in a pathetic state like this?_"

"Sorry Sir…" the redhead said again, actually meaning it, and hoping that his new job wouldn't come to a sudden halt.

Rufus sighed. "Well, I guess you can see that the old rumor about me isn't all true."

"Rumor?"

"I keep this rumor out as a scare tactic. Supposedly, nobody's ever seen me bleed or cry. Now, here I am, the blood caked in my hair."

Reno was silent.

"What are you here for?" asked Rufus dryly.

"…Broke my arm in training. How about you?" Reno opened the curtain up partially, sitting down on his own bed, surprised that Rufus had suddenly taken to conversation with him, even if it wasn't all that enthusiastic.

"That's classified."

"…Oh."

"I can hear you! Go to sleep!" yelled the doctor from across the room.

"Ah, shaddup," Reno murmured.

"Broke your arm, huh? What happened?"

"Lost a sparring match against Rude."

"That had to hurt."

"Yeah," Reno stated. The man sitting in the bed next to him seemed somehow like a different person than the one he had heard about in the café and later seen in the training area, different even from the man that had just been berating him over his curiosity. That feeling only lasted for a moment, though.

"I think that I have to kill you now," Rufus said with a seriousness in his voice that sent a shiver down Reno's spine.

"Huh?"

"You've seen me in a venerable state. You're supposed to fear me. How can you fear me if you've seen me like this?"

"The threats of you killing me work well for that, especially after watching you with that shotgun…"

Rufus chuckled. "Ah, who am I kidding? You're a ballsy guy, sticking your head through my privacy curtain like that. The fear doesn't suit you. Relax, kid."

Reno didn't relax. Rufus' sudden change of demeanor had unnerved him more than anything else. "Aren't you mad at me for invading your privacy like that?"

"I was at first, but having someone to shoot the shit with is much more exciting than sleeping all day when you're stuck in this hell-hole."

Reno had to admit that it was a good point.

"You know what I could use right now?"

"What?"

"A drink. Being drunk would probably make this more interesting."

"Cheers to that."

"…You know, you're an okay guy, Kiribani."

"…Uh…Thanks."

"What are you doing?" asked the doctor angrily, storming up to the two. "Stop talking and go back to sleep! It's late, and you're disturbing the other patients."

Rufus laid down with a grunt as the doctor closed the curtain. His employee retired soon after.

The next morning, the Turk awoke to find the bed next to his empty, and, with faded memories as the only evidence left of the previous night's occupant, Reno wasn't sure if Rufus Shinra had ever been there at all.

* * *

Reno healed quickly, and he could tell that his speedy recovery had been at least partially Mako-induced. He was a bit dizzy, and when he looked in the mirror, the familiar glow in his eyes, once slightly faded from his SOLDIER days, looked back.

Still, the Turk had to admit that his arm was feeling fine, perhaps even better than it had before it was broken.

"Good. You're better. Back to training with you," stated Tseng simply from behind his desk.

"When do I get to go on an actual mission?"

"Not until I'm sure that you have some sort of chance of not getting yourself killed."

"Oh. Thanks for the confidence," Reno stated sarcastically.

"No problem," retorted Tseng with a faint smirk. "Have you found a weapon yet?"

"Nope."

"You could always just do what Rude usually does and fist-fight."

"That's all well and good, except for the fact that Rude's twice as big as me."

"I think that you should try this," came a third voice from Tseng's office doorway. The two Turks turned to see Rufus Shinra there. "You seem like the unconventional type, Kiribani, so I think you might like this." Rufus threw something in Reno's direction, and the redhead caught it, looking it over with a puzzled grimace on his face.

"It looks like half of a TV antenna," Reno said. He retracted the metal rod and was suddenly hit by a burst of electricity that made his hair stand up even more than usual. "What the crap IS that thing?" he asked, dropping it to the ground.

"It's an electro-mag rod," Rufus stated frankly. "It can shock…"

"Really?"

"…and it has slight magnetic properties."

"What good will that be? I can herd chocobos and pick up dropped change?"

"Fine, fine. It's just a suggestion." Rufus shrugged and leaned against the doorframe.

"Excuse me, Sir, but what are you doing here?" asked Tseng.

"Procrastinating on my paperwork, hoping to annoy my father."

"You?" Reno asked. "You don't seem like the type to put work off or to go against authority."

"I normally wouldn't, but, seeing as I _am_ the authority, except when it comes to my father, I can make an exception."

"Shouldn't you get that paperwork done, though? It's important stuff, right?"

"Now, see, you don't seem like the type to worry about that kind of thing, but you're right." Rufus started to leave. "And try the mag-rod. I still think it'll work for you. Just don't touch the tip this time."

And the Vice President left, again leaving Reno unsure of what to think of him.

* * *

"Well, I'll be damned," Rude stated simply, his voice muffled from inside the electromagnetic pyramid.

"Well, I guess this blasted choco-herder is good for something after all," Reno mused. "I should leave you in there as punishment for breaking my arm. I wonder what else this piece of junk can do…"

"The best way to find out is in battle," said Tseng.

"Okay, so bring it on!"

"You know…I think that you may have found your weapon."

"Yeah, yeah. So the boss-man was right…but the guy is weird, like he's twenty-three different people rolled into one."

"What do you mean?" Tseng inquired, shifting his weight to one foot.

"Well, one minute, he's this raging psychopath. Then, the next time you talk to him, he seems like the nicest guy on the planet. I just wish he'd stop calling me Kiribani."

"Tell him that."

"Nah, I have really bad luck with that kind of thing. I'll probably catch him when he's in psycho-mode."

Rude tapped his foot impatiently from inside of his pyramid.

"Reno, let him out. That's an order."

"He broke my arm."

"Reno."

"Okay, so I don't know how. I don't even know how I put him in there."

"You have to be joking."

"Hey, I just _got_ the antenna. Give me a break! Just started swinging it around. Poof. Pyramid."

Luckily for Rude, the magnetic field that composed his prison started to fade.

"There. I got him out," Reno said dryly.

"It let me out on its own," stated Rude, punching his comrade in the shoulder.

"So, I need to work on it…"

* * *

Miya's Note: There you have it! It's Chapter Two! Ch. #3 should be coming soon. Sorry it's so short. I'm having a bit of writer's block. I'm still not sure if I'm happy with this Chapter or not…


	3. Second Thoughts

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 3

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miyamashi's Note: Hurrah! Chapter Three is here! I'm actually keeping up on my updates! Aren't you all proud of me? Note that part of this is a little goofy…okay, really goofy…as Reno finally starts to act Reno-ish (to the extreme). He calms down quickly as the excitement starts to build as Reno prepares for his first mission! Oh, and the word "rutabaga" is misspelled purposely, in case you can't tell…

To pewp: Yes, Rufus did jump personalities like crazy…that actually kind of annoyed me. I'm working it into the story, though. I also agree about the fact that hints and details that add to a story are much (infinitely) more effective than useless details. I'm trying to work up to that point, although I'm still not the most advanced of writers and probably won't do a perfect job at it...I shall try my darndest, though! Oh, and I'm not a huge fan of fluff either. Love at first sight isn't realistic, especially not when the two parties involved are a womanizer and his boss. I DON'T see the whole love thing just happening out of thin air.

Thanks for the comment!

To Roxi and Mashimaro-Byul-012- Thanks! I'm glad that you both like my Reno!

To udonluvr7: Thank you! I'm glad that you're enjoying it! The backgrounds of the characters will most likely pop up later, most likely during conversation, but I don't know yet. You're right in that it would add insight.

* * *

After what seemed to Reno like years of intense training, he had finally become a full-fledged Turk. He was finally going to be able to go on his first mission, partially thanks to that small, mysterious piece of metal that Reno had once thought to be a ridiculous and useless piece of crap…

Since the day that he had gotten his electro-mag rod, Reno hadn't seen Rufus Shinra. The Turk wasn't exactly sure what to think of this, as he both dreaded and looked forward to the day when he would see the man again and would thank him for the weapon that had grown so strangely close to him--like a part of his body.

How had Rufus known that the mag-rod would be his dream-weapon? Reno could only speculate, but he felt something odd in Rufus' presence, like the man looked into his soul and suddenly knew everything about him, from his best qualities to his darkest and most well kept secrets. This was not a feeling that Reno took lightly, as it, and Rufus' chilling eyes, had haunted his thoughts since the obscure night in the infirmary that felt like so long ago.

"Who is he, really?" Reno found himself asking to nobody in particular. Something about Rufus sincerely scared the Turk; yet, at the same time, the redhead found himself drawn to the blonde, wanting nothing more than to solve the mystery behind those cold, blue eyes…

"Who is who?" asked Rude, clapping a hand on Reno's shoulder. After the pyramid incident, Reno and Rude had managed to become close companions.

"Nobody."

"Well, Nobody must be pretty interesting to make you space out all the time."

"Shut up, Rudolph."

"Wrong again. You're never going to get it."

"Damn," Reno muttered, snapping his fingers. Trying to figure out Rude's full name had become one of his new hobbies.

"Plus, didn't you already try that one?"

"…Yeah, I think so, actually…Rudabega!"

"Uh…no."

"Rudeplestiltzkin?"

"…"

"What? You can't mean that that's it?"

"…No. Not even _close_."

"Well, I think that I'm going to call you Rudeplestiltzkin from now on, just because you won't tell me your _real _name."

"Don't. You. Dare."

"Fine, I'll just call you…Dale…or something. Rudeplestiltzkin is too long anyway."

"Dale?"

"Sure, why not?"

"_Dale?_"

There was a ding as Tseng stepped out of the elevator into Shinra HQ's foyer.

"Hey, Dot-Man. What took you so long?"

"I'm early," he replied, shrugging off the nickname. He had become accustomed to Reno's antics.

"No, you're…" Reno pulled back his sleeve on his already rumpled Turk uniform and peered at his watch. "…so you are early."

"A bit eager, are we?"

Reno dug his boot into the ground, effectively scuffing the toe.

"He insisted that we come about an hour early," Rude sniggered, "just like a kid waiting to go to the Gold Saucer for the first time…"

"Shut up, Dale."

"I'm not going to ask," stated Tseng. "Let's just get to the briefing. The mission is in Junon. Our objective is to take out the traitor who fled there. I felt that this would be a fitting first mission for you, Reno, seeing as this traitor is your old officer from SOLDIER, one Gerome Pulitz, and we wouldn't have found out his plans without your help."

"I was wondering if you'd bagged him yet."

"Reno, do not take this mission lightly. When we hacked into his mail messages, we found that his plan is to assassinate the Vice President, who is currently overseeing the construction of the city's self-defense system."

"How does that asshole plan on doing that with the guards around?"

"We traced the recipient of the messages. It turns out that Pulitz has a group of rebels from Wutai on his side, and they're meeting him at the city in hopes of being able to sneak up on the guards and kill them off before they get to the Vice President himself."

"Aw, shit! Aren't the Wutai creeps the ones who're into all of that sneaky Ninjutsu crap?"

"…Yes. That is correct." Rude grimaced as Tseng's expression became stony.

"Reno," Rude whispered, but loudly enough for his black-haired leader to hear.

"What?" Reno whispered back.

"Tseng's a…he comes from Wutai."

Reno paled visibly.

"I will not be attending this mission, as I may endanger it," stated the Wutai-born man.

"…because you may know them…" The redhead stared at a spot on the floor.

"Exactly. Though I have been thoroughly trained to conceal my emotions in situations such as this one, the magnitude of this mission requires that there be _no chance_ of personal relations interfering."

"Sir, are you sure that Reno is prepared for such an important job?" Rude asked skeptically. "This doesn't seem like first mission material."

"I assure you, Boss…Tseng…that I'll give it my all," Reno interjected before Tseng could answer, giving him a quick, sloppy SOLDIER salute. "Hey, man. I'm sorry that it's people from your hometown…"

"There is no need to apologize. I became their enemy the day that I joined Shinra's ranks. It was…my choice."

"I see."

"Meet on the roof at 1700 hours. Dismissed." And Tseng left, all traces of emotion erased from his features.

* * *

Reno quickly decided that he hated the helicopter. He hated the slight vibration that it had in flight. He hated the way the vibration made the thing feel like it would drop from the sky at any moment. Most of all, he hated the noise. Even through the thick covering on his ears, he felt himself developing a massive headache.

Rude, as always, sat calm and expressionless beside him.

At first, he had been very excited about the prospect of being trusted with such a crucial mission, but, as the prospect dawned on Reno that he was just a novice, he found that his nerves had begun to take hold. To say that it was just this helicopter ride that was causing his heart to beat uncontrollably, trying to break free from its cage of flesh and bone, would be a lie.

He was afraid.

Reno Kiribani looked out his window to see the industrial city top of Junon looming at him in the distance. It would only be minutes before the helicopter would land and the mission would truly begin.

This would be his test. If he failed, it could mean the lives of him, Rude, the guards, and Rufus Shinra. He could see it. Tseng would spit on his grave.

'But if I succeed, this will be my thanks to the V.P.,' he thought to himself. What a way to meet again…

And the helicopter landed with an uneasy jerk that tightened the knots in Reno's stomach.

* * *

Miyamashi: I just HAD to do it! CLIFFHANGER!!!! Don't worry, though. I want to know what happens as much as you do (HA! It's true!) and will update quickly. It should take a day or two AT MOST for Chapter Four to be posted.


	4. Because It's My Job

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 4

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Sorry about the cliffhanger in the last Chapter. I knew that this section (Chapters 3 & 4) would take me a little while to right, so I though that cutting it into two parts would give you something to read while I finished. Better to update more frequently with shorter chapters, IMHO.

My favorite part of this chapter is the first part with Rufus. I'm really, really proud of how I did on that section.

To pewp: I'm glad that I made you laugh. Don't worry about the advice. No hard feelings. In fact, I appreciate it. Even if you don't think that you can write, that doesn't mean that you don't have some good tips to offer! Plus, I'm sure that you'll improve. It just takes a lot of practice. Being an artist, I'm sure that you know that fact! Oh, and since you're an artist, do you have any pictures up on the web? I'd love to see them! You can find mine at miyamashi . deviantart . com (without spaces, as it won't let any links come up! ARRRGH!),** as I consider myself an artist before a writer as well. (I draw constantly. I only write when I have a story that I feel like I _really_ need to tell, which isn't often, because most of my fanfic ideas get trashed the second I remember how much WORK and TIME it takes to make one of these blasted things!)**

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: I'm trying to update as quickly as possible, so that I don't let you guys down. I hate it when I start a fic and don't finish it, and if I procrastinate, I won't. Like I said, sorry about the cliffhanger.

To Gothic Yokai: [Ch.2 Review] It's okay! No need to grovel! I'll consider making a Lime, just for you! [Ch.3 Review] I really don't know where I pulled the name Dale from. I checked out your story "Bring Me a Soda," and it was pretty good. I left you a review, in case you didn't see it. I'll have to look at some of your others.

* * *

"So, what's the plan, Dale?" Reno joked in a vain attempt to calm himself down.

"Hopefully, if we work quickly, we can get the Vice President out of harm's way before the traitor ever even shows up. If we're lucky, that'll confuse Pulitz and give us a clean shot at him."

"Don't be so sure. He's a sneaky bastard."

"Our biggest problem is going to be the ninjas. They're going to use stealth, and if we're going to beat them, we will have to as well."

"Is it just me, or does this sound like a cheesy action flick, with all the ninjas and stuff?"

Rude ignored him. "You go and find the V.P. and take him somewhere safe. I'm going to try to pinpoint Pulitz's whereabouts. " He handed Reno a headset. "This will keep you in contact with me, and with Tseng, who is in his office, watching for any suspicious activity on the computer, as well as monitoring the city's security cameras."

"Definitely like a cheesy action flick," Reno said as he put the headset on. "Testing, testing, one, two, three?"

"Reno, are you ready?" asked Tseng from his office in Midgar.

"I guess I have to be," replied the redhead before flashing a thumbs-up at Rude, who fitted his own headset and flipped open a laptop, and rushed into the depths of the city.

"_Good luck," _said Rude into his microphone.

* * *

"So far, so good," said Tseng into his headset as he looked into his computer monitor. "I don't see any suspicious activity so far." 

"Same here," came Rude's voice.

"Reno, how are you doing?"

"Fine so far. I've worked my way down into the city's lower levels. Didn't want to take any chance of being seen."

"Good. You've remembered your training."

"I can't help it. You guys practically brainwashed me."

Tseng chuckled, and he could hear Rude give a snort on the other end of the line.

"Watch your backs, you two."

"Can do, Dot-man."

"Roger."

* * *

Rufus Shinra was standing, watching the workers from Junon's topmost layer, when he heard a zinging sound from behind him, followed by a sickening splatter-thud. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw something fly by, and then the headless body of a guard fell beside him. 

It took a moment before what had happened sunk in.

Another zing, this time from the opposite direction, and a second body fell to the ground. Rufus felt something hit his back, and soon, the warm wetness of the guard's blood seeped through his jacket, shirt, and hair, resting on the skin on his back and neck.

He moved quickly and suddenly, ducking down and pulling the pistol from the first guard's hand as a third zing came, rustling his bangs as it passed only inches in front of his face.

Thud.

Rufus dashed as fast as he could, out of the open area into an alley, where he crouched behind a corner.

Zing. Splatter. Thud. Zing. Splatter. Thud.

Only a couple of guards left.

The blonde peered around his corner to see a shuriken whiz through the air and return to its owner, who sat, waiting, watching, in the window of an abandoned building. He aimed and fired, and the shuriken's owner slumped lifelessly onto the window frame.

"Shit!" Rufus cursed under his breath as gunshots began to ricochet off of the corner. He heard footsteps coming quickly towards him, and he stood and ran down the alley, hopping a fence at its end. Soon after, he heard the wires of the fence creak a second time.

He was being chased down.

* * *

"Holy shit!" Rude cursed loudly, abandoning his laptop and racing in the same direction that Reno had gone minutes before. "Reno! Reno, do you read me?" 

"What's wrong?!" came the reply, but it wasn't Reno. It was Tseng.

"Trouble on camera six! Reno! Turn back immediately!"

Reno didn't answer.

"Oh no. They're already there," Tseng murmured as he brought up camera six on his computer. _"Where's the Vice President?"_

"I don't know. I didn't see him anywhere," Rude replied breathily, his voice erratic from the run and the panic.

* * *

Reno threw his loudly crackling headset to the ground as the radio interference in the area made it useless. He backed against the wall and opened the door slowly to the light of the construction area. 

'Now I just get the V.P. out of there and into a safe place. Then, I go meet Rude and we figure out the plan from there. Easy enough,' he thought to himself. He peered around the doorframe.

"Damn."

All of the guards were dead, their bodies littering the ground, making the industrial city-top all the more desolate. The last of the ninjas from Wutai rushed quietly into an alley.

Reno snuck into the construction site, scanning the bodies for any sign of the Vice President.

"Well, at least I may not be too late," he said, following the ninja.

As he jumped the fence at the alley's end, Reno had to dodge a shuriken throw from the ninja as the man turned to face the sound the redhead had made. Reno pointed his electro-mag rod at the enemy, encasing him in a pyramid just as the shuriken rounded back. Trapped and unable to use his hands, the man could only stare as his own weapon came toward him, breaking through the pyramid and lodging itself into his forehead.

Reno leapt over the body, dashing faster to catch up with his other foes.

* * *

Rude heard a crunch underfoot as he ran out of the door and into the open construction area. He didn't stop to see what it had been. 

The sight before him was one of crimson-covered steel and concrete. The bodies, all of them without heads, were from SOLDIER. No sign of Reno or of Rufus Shinra.

His headset crackled as Tseng tried to contact him.

"Which way did he go?" Rude asked himself, scanning the area for any sign of Reno's whereabouts. There was none. He picked up a discarded gun from the ground next to one of the bodies as backup. The only thing that he could do then was to go back the way he came so that he could talk to Tseng. He ran back through the door, gun in hand, over Reno's now-broken headset.

* * *

"…g…can…..ear…?"

"What? Rude, you're still breaking up."

"Tsen…an…r…me?"

"Damnit!"

"…eno…gone………Shin…"

"C'mon, Rude. Get back into range."

"Tseng……..e's gone….ninjas……no sur..vors…"

"No…" Tseng's fist hit the desk. "I shouldn't…he was only a novice…"

* * *

The only sound was heavy breathing and the clamor of footsteps as Rufus ran as quickly as his body would take him. He could feel himself getting quickly tired. His breaths came in short rasps and his chest burned like he had inhaled flaming napalm. 

A shot ripped through his left arm. Rufus glanced over his shoulder as he ran, firing off the last of his bullets. Still running, he threw the gun at the man behind him, and another shot buried itself into his shoulder.

There was a scream from behind him. Rufus began to force himself on faster, but was stopped suddenly in his tracks by a barrier around him. He heard a shot, and it felt like the world went in slow-motion as a bullet cut into his back and the barrier flashed and disappeared.

* * *

Pulitz laughed as Rufus fell to the ground. "So, you're a Turk now, Kiribani. Figures that I would be the one to make your mission fail." 

Reno stood stock-still.

"You couldn't even get the barrier around the right man. You've always been a sloppy failure, and you always will be."

"I wasn't aiming at you," was the reply. "It wouldn't have done any good. You were already ready to fire, and it only takes one finger's space to pull a trigger."

Pulitz aimed his gun at Reno's head. In the dim dusk lighting that was growing steadily darker as the minutes passed, the redhead could only see his former boss' shadow, but, in his mind's eye, could imagine the expression that Gerome Pulitz was wearing: Triumphant, cocky, and with a maniacal glint in his eye that had met face-to-face with Reno on many occasions.

Pulitz pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked, but nothing more. "Bang, Kiribani. You're lucky I've decided to let you go. Of course, you'll probably wish I'd killed you when word gets out about your little muck-up."

And, as Pulitz began to walk into the shadows, Reno ran up behind him and touched the electro-mag rod to his back. The traitor screamed as electricity racked his body. For what seemed like an eternity, Pulitz's body jerked and convulsed, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Finally, the body dropped into a lifeless heap on the concrete.

"Bad move, _Boss,_" Reno spat. "You should have killed me."

Reno strode over to where Rufus lay, stepping over Pulitz as if his corpse was a particularly repulsive pile of dog shit.

"You had better not be dead," Reno growled threateningly at the blonde's figure on the ground before him. He knelt down next to the Vice President, listening closely as the man's breaths came in short, ragged gasps. He looked at the bullet hole, and noticed that it hovered menacingly behind Rufus' heart. " And if I hadn't put that pyramid around you to slow the bullet down, you would be…"

As if on cue, Rude came running down the path. Reno was silent.

"Is he dead?" asked the taller Turk.

"No, but we need to get him out of here. How did you find me?"

"I searched."

* * *

"Tseng, do you read me?"

"Rude?"

"I've got Reno and the Vice President, and we're coming into Midgar as we speak. Have a doctor ready."

"What…but…? Very well."

And the channel closed.

* * *

Miya's Note: Oooh, the excitement, no? Tell me what you think! Chapter 5 should be coming soon!


	5. Only Human

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 5

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: This is where Reno and Rufus finally start to get to know each other! Hurrah! No romance yet, though, I'm afraid.

And then, we have the reveal: What IS Rude's real name? You'll laugh, I promise (just reading that part alone, you'd think that this was a comedy). Just don't spill it when you review (if you even do review…you had better! glares). Sometimes people read reviews before they read the fic. I know that I do it a lot.

To Roxi: Thanks!

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: No pressure. Actually, I need a bit of a kick. I really tend to procrastinate. Having wonderful reviewers keeps me from doing so, though! hug

To Gothic Yokai: Yeah, poor Rufi! No prob with the lime…huggles you back…or with the review!

Was this update fast enough for you all? .-

* * *

"So, you're not dead after all," Tseng stated, smiling, to Reno as the redhead stepped out of the helicopter.

"…No…where'd you get that idea?"

"Rude said that you were gone…that there were no survivors."

"I said that Reno had gone off to find Rufus Shinra and that the ninjas had come and killed all of the guards. That's where there were no survivors," Rude said, stepping out behind Reno.

"So, you assumed that I had been killed, is that it?" Reno glared at Tseng.

"I…I guess that I did." The black-haired Turk shrugged. "I am glad that you are alive, though. I wouldn't want to have to find another replacement so soon."

A stretcher rolled up to the helicopter, and two doctors laid Rufus' form on top of it.

"He's not dead, in case you're wondering," Reno stated, indicating the stretcher. "I just wish that I hadn't let him get shot like that."

"At least he's still alive."

* * *

"Kiribani?" Rufus asked softly as Reno stood over his hospital bed.

"We need to stop meeting like this, Sir."

"Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary. You were shot."

"…Junon."

"Yes."

"Why are you here?"

"I was supposed to protect you, Sir, but here you are."

"The barrier…was that you?"

"Yes, Sir. It was from the electro-mag rod."

Rufus smiled. "Why did you do it?"

"It was to slow the bullet."

"I guess it worked, then."

"Yes, Sir."

"Then I am alive, thanks to you. It seems to me like you protected me quite well, Kiribani."

Reno paused, his eyes unfocused, pointing somewhere on the far wall. "Sir, may I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Could you call me Reno? Kiribani is what Pulitz used to call me."

"Who?"

"Gerome Pulitz. He was the man who almost killed you."

"You knew him." It was not a question.

"He was my commanding officer when I was in SOLDIER."

"You didn't like him, I take it."

"No, Sir. I hated the asshole."

"Very well then, Reno. I understand where you're coming from."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Rufus is fine. I owe you my life. The least that I can do is drop the formalities."

"Thank you…Rufus." Reno felt strange calling the Vice President by his first name, but he hoped that he would get used to it.

"I appreciate your coming in and checking up on me. There are not many men who would do that kind of thing for their bosses," said Rufus, "but, if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling very tired. There's no need to stay. I've inconvenienced you enough. Thank you again, Reno."

"G'night." Reno stepped out of the infirmary, heading for his room. This had possibly been his strangest meeting with Rufus Shinra, as the man hadn't gotten angry at him, hadn't changed personas sporadically…

Rufus had, for the first time since Reno had met him, seemed like a human being, rather than the mysterious, inhuman figure that had haunted the Turk's thoughts for so long…

* * *

"So?" Rude asked Reno as the redhead passed by on the way to his room.

"So what?"

"How did it go with the V.P.? You still have your job?"

"Yeah…he thanked me."

Rude gave his comrade a skeptical look above his sunglasses.

"I'm serious, Dale."

"Stop calling me that."

"Tell me your real name, and I will."

"Fine."

Reno smirked triumphantly. Rude mumbled something inaudibly, his eyes downcast.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you."

"My name is……………I can't do it."

"I won't laugh, I promise."

"You _will _laugh. _I'd_ laugh."

"Okay, so I might laugh, but I won't tell anybody."

"Well, my mom always wanted a daughter, so she named me Gertrude…"

Reno not only laughed, but burst into hysterics.

Rude glared, although Reno couldn't see it through the shades.

"Sorry, man, but that's plain funny…I'd kill my parents if they'd named me Gertrude."

Rude placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and kneed him in the gut. As Reno half-collapsed, the wind knocked out of him, Rude took off his sunglasses and gave a look that said, "If you ever mention this again, I will kill you and anyone and everyone that you hold dear."

The bald Turk put his sunglasses back on and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him, as Reno practically crawled to his.

* * *

"Up! Get up!" the President screamed at his son. "I said, get _up _off of you're lazy _ass_, Rufus!"

The doctor ran over as Shinra grabbed Rufus by the hair, picking the young blonde up to face-level.

"Sir, he is in no condition…"

"Shut up! He is _my_ son, and if I want him to get up, he will, even if he's bleeding from every opening in his body!"

"But Sir, he is on strict bed-rest, and I cannot let you further endanger his health."

"Do you _defy _me?"

"If that it what it takes to ensure that my patient recovers, then I do."

Shinra let Rufus fall back to the bed.

"You have just branded yourself a traitor to the Shinra legacy. Do you know what that means?"

"Yes. Now leave," the doctor stated coldly. "He may be your son, but he is my responsibility."

And those were the last words that the doctor ever said as Shinra pulled a pistol out of his jacket and fired.

"Now, get up."

* * *

Miya's Note: Sorry it was so short. Poor Rufi! He's just not having a good time in this fic, is he?

On a good note, if all goes well, the next chapter should be the first romantic one….


	6. Corruption

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 6

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Lookie! The chapters have NAMES! (just in the chapter select pop-down) Aren't you proud of me? Oh, and if you want to see a picture of Gerome Pulitz and Malita Cunningham, I'm posting one on my DeviantART account. I'm Miyamashi there, too, so just head over to miyamashi . deviantart . com, minus the spaces.

And oh, wow! Thank you guys so much who reviewed! One more, and this will be my most popular fanfic. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! :D

To Amatsu: Sorry! I did reply to your review in the last chapter, but forgot to save after I did so! (Silly me!) There really isn't enough Runo stuff out there, is there? But, I've been surprised at how many people support the couple! Now, if all of them would just contribute something…:D Thanks for the review!

To Gothic…Err…Kuro Yokai (you changed your name!): Yeah, poor Rufi! Don't worry, I feel sorry for Rude, too.

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: NOOO!!!! Why'd you have to go and say Rude's real name in your review? …Oh well! Life moves on! . I'm glad that you liked it. Reno did deserve that kick, though. Don't worry. He's not hurt too badly.

To pewp: Yeah, I have AIM, but I'm NEVER on it. In fact, I haven't used it in almost two/three years now. I do still want to see your art, though. If you like, you can e-mail them to me, or we can figure something else out! You shouldn't have quit drawing! Never quit! And STOP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN! Grr. If you want to go with the e-mail route, just put the magic word, SPLEEN, somewhere in the title so that I know what it is and don't delete it. My e-mail is on my profile page. **(Spleen? That came from nowhere!)**

To roxi: Nothing much to say but "YAY!"

Oh, and Cindie, (my best bud, to those of you who don't know me) Reno flicks his ashes onto you! XD (Don't ask. It's an inside joke.) Aren't you HAPPY?!

* * *

No matter how hard he tried, Reno could not sleep. He tossed. He turned. He flipped with his head facing the other end of the bed.

He kicked off the covers. He opened the window.

And he thought.

In the quiet of his room, thinking was all that he could do as his head raced through images of that day, back to images from when he was in SOLDIER…

Pulitz.

He was dead, killed by Reno's own hands, so why wouldn't he go away? Perhaps it was because he was…right?

"Have a puff, Kiribani."

"I don't smoke," Reno murmured aloud as he remembered.

"You do now," Pulitz sneered, lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag. He handed it to Reno. "Have a puff, or would you like to go back on the streets? I can arrange that."

Reno took the cigarette, inhaling the smoke. Instead of coughing, the smoke coated Reno's throat and lungs soothingly.

"I knew you were a smoker, Kiribani."

"I used to be, but I quit…"

"That's what life is like, Kiribani. You take a drag of the poison and you're hooked. Then, you can never fully turn back--you're already corrupted. One puff and you're as black as the smoke."

"What's the point of this, Pulitz?"

"You think you're something, the way you defy my orders and mouth off all the time. You're not. You're a corrupted pile of shit, Kiribani, and you're no different than me. We're two of a kind, down to the Mako in our blood, down to the last red hairs on our heads."

"We may look similar, Pulitz, but I'm nothing like you." He handed the cigarette back to his boss. Pulitz grabbed his subordinate's hand and put the ember out in his palm. Reno winced.

"I still have that scar, the bastard," Reno grumbled, looking down at his hand. He stood and changed into a shirt and a pair of baggy pants, grabbed the cigarettes that he hadn't been able to quit the second time, and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He lit a cig, taking a puff and flicking the ashes into a potted plant before heading outside and sitting down on the front steps of the Shinra building.

"Maybe I am just like him. Maybe I am corrupted. I'm as black as smoke…as black as sin…"

And, as Reno sat on the stairs, thinking, the doors burst open and two men in lab coats walked out, a white-wrapped bundle between them, and opened a mako vent. As they threw the bundle in to its destruction, Reno could swear that he saw blood on the sheet.

"What the…?"

And the men walked back inside, not even seeming to notice that the Turk was there.

* * *

"I think that I like you better this way, boy," Shinra sneered, pulling the bandages on his son's right shoulder tight over the wound. Rufus groaned, his eyes unfocused and the pain next to unbearable. "You're much less obnoxious."

The world spun around Rufus at a dizzying pace, the amount of blood lost from his freshly bleeding gunshot wounds making it harder to stand with each passing moment. Still holding the bandages around the strawberry blonde's shoulder, President Shinra shoved him against the wall. Rufus' head drooped in front of his chest, but he used what little strength he had to pick it up slowly and stare his father in the eye.

The father slammed the son up against the wall a second time, but harder. Rufus' head hit, then fell back down limply. The President let go, and his son slid down the wall, leaving streaks of blood above him.

"Tomorrow morning, back to work, and you had better not be late."

Rufus sat, almost unconscious and slumped against the wall.

* * *

Reno put out his cigarette on the step and followed the men into the building.

"It's a shame, really," said the first, a small man with slicked-back brown hair, as Reno slid behind a corner to eavesdrop. "She really was a good doctor."

"Shinra's crazy, I tell you," stated the other man, who was taller and had lighter brown hair and thick glasses.

"I know. I heard that she stood up to him and that's why he shot her," said the small man.

"She was a brave woman, and that's what got her killed. That's why it pays to be submissive to the big-shots, I always say," retorted the man with glasses.

"Especially when it comes to the boss. If we ever stood up to _him_, he'd do more than just shoot us. She was probably lucky that it was Shinra and not the Professor.

The two men walked off, and Reno couldn't follow without risk of being seen.

"He shot the doctor? Maybe he isn't such a nice guy after all." And the redhead went back to his room, knowing now, more than ever, that he would have a sleepless night.

* * *

Rufus awoke slowly to the heat of the sun's morning rays on his face. He opened his eyes slowly, letting the light of day into them. It gave him a headache.

He tried to move, but couldn't even do so much as to pick up his head. He was surprised that he was alive, much less awake, and he sat for a long while, trying to gather up enough strength to crawl to his desk. He finally succeeded in picking his head up and resting it back on the wall, but that was all.

He was going to die. He could feel it in the way that his body refused to respond. Everything hurt. More than anything, Rufus Shinra wished at that moment that death would hurry up and take him away.

He let his head loll back to his side and fell asleep, expecting--hoping--never to wake back up.

And President Shinra stormed into his son's office to find the boy out cold in his place against the wall.

* * *

Reno was angry. He had stewed all night in his puddle of hatred and regret, and was now almost to the breaking point.

'Deception,' Reno thought to himself. 'Corrupted in deception. That's what he is…'

As much as Reno had hated Pulitz, he had grown to hate Rufus Shinra even more. The young Vice President was a demon with an angelic face in Reno's mind, his eyes the only things giving away his true disposition.

"He shot her. She did what she could to keep him alive, and he shot her," the redheaded Turk mused aloud. "And here I was thinking that he was actually an okay guy, but he's a bastard. He was almost acting like he was my _friend_ or something, but he…" Reno screamed and flung his pillow at the wall.

There was a knock at the door. Reno stormed to it and opened it up to see Rude standing there.

"Don't take your anger out on me, Reno, but I wanted to tell you that Tseng wants to see us. What are you so pissed about, anyway?"

"Nothing," Reno grumbled, throwing his coat on haphazardly and stepping into the hall.

"You still beating yourself up about letting the V.P. get shot?"

"…No. I'm beating myself up for saving the bastard."

"…What?" Rude shrugged it off. "Well, what Tseng says that he wants to see us about _is _the V.P."

"Great."

* * *

"Reno, I think that you deserve some congratulations on a job well done, as do you, Rude."

Rude nodded. Reno sneered and turned the other direction.

"But the mission has provided us with another problem now," Tseng continued. "Vice President Rufus was taken from his care in the doctor's hands, and has now dropped into a worse state. The president found the boy unconscious against the wall in his office, and the doctor has vanished, most likely killed, as there was blood on the wall that somebody had tried to wash away. We are to figure out exactly what happened."

"Taken from the doctor's care?" asked Reno coldly. "He went willingly, shooting the woman in the process. It's his own damn fault and I want nothing to do with him!"

Tseng paused. "Where did you hear this, Reno?"

"I heard it straight from the men who dumped the body."

Rude gaped.

"It is true that the doctor disappeared, but the Vice President was unarmed, so it is impossible that he shot her."

"But those guys said that she defied him and he killed her."

"That is impossible. Unless somebody else was in the room, there is no way that Rufus could have gotten access to a gun, since weapons are prohibited in the infirmary and the V.P. had lost too much blood to have left to get one," Rude stated, glancing over the mission file.

Reno had a sudden thought. Rude was right. He had seen Rufus only hours before the crisis, and, even then, he had been in no state to get a weapon, fire it, and then leave the room. Then, he remembered something farther back, back to the day that he had first met Rufus.

"'Sir' or "Vice President Rufus' will do, but never call me 'Shinra'."

"Shinra is his _father_…" the redhead stated aloud.

"What?" Tseng asked.

"It wasn't Rufus, it was the President."

"Reno, that's absurd. The President just found his son this morning."

"Unless he's trying to cover something up, like the fact that he mucked up and almost got his own son killed. Do you know where Rufus is now?"

"Yeah, he's in his room, but…"

"Where is that?"

"On floor seven, but don't…"

And Reno sprinted out of the room, leaving Tseng staring at the empty doorway.

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" Asked President Shinra.

"Reno, Sir. I'm a Turk, and I need to interrogate your son about last night's events.

"That is impossible and highly unnecessary," said the President, his voice cold.

"I have strict orders from my boss that I am to interrogate the Vice President, so if you'll excuse me," Reno said nonchalantly, attempting to step past Shinra into Rufus' room, but the large man blocked his path.

"I am your superior as well, Turk, so I suggest you leave and tell your boss that you and the other Turks will have to find a different way. My son is in no condition to speak to anyone."

There was an uncaring, almost loathing tone to Shinra's voice, Reno noticed. The President glared at the Turk, obviously not moving until he was gone. Reno walked off, but just far enough that he was out of sight. He ducked into a closet as the President passed.

"Well, that was the easy part," Reno murmured to himself. "Now I have to get in there and talk to Rufus without getting caught…" He snuck out of the room and slowly opened the door of the Vice President's apartment.

"Whoa, this place is big…"

Reno searched around a bit, opening each door in turn.

"Who's there?" came Rufus' voice from the bedroom as Reno cracked the door. It was like a plea, quiet and almost afraid.

"It's Reno."

"You're not supposed to be in here."

"I know. You're father made sure that I knew that little fact. I've never been a very good listener."

"You need to leave. Your being here is dangerous."

Reno stepped fully into the room. Rufus laid on his enormous bed, looking tired and pale and small. In his eyes was something that Reno had never seen there before. There was an overwhelming sadness, and the intensity of it showed so clearly that Reno could almost feel it himself.

"Was it him?" Reno asked softly.

"You mean my father?"

"Yeah. Was he the one who killed the doctor?"

"Yes. She told him that I shouldn't be taken from her care because I was too weak. He didn't listen. Instead, he killed her so that he wouldn't have to hear it. Then, he brought me up to my office and left me slumped against the wall, and told me to get back to work in the morning. Now, here I am. I'm surprised he didn't let me die."

"Does he hate you that much?"

"Yes."

Reno stood silent as Rufus pushed back the covers and slowly propped himself up on his headboard. He feigned a smile. Reno thought that he looked very thin, almost feminine in build, his shoulders much more narrow than his jacket made it seem. Though Reno knew that Rufus was both taller and less skinny than he was, the blonde somehow seemed the smaller of the two. Reno instantly knew why Rufus wore his coat. It was to make him look bigger. It was hard to imagine this strangely petite man as the threatening, fearful being that he had heard rumors about.

Rufus Shinra looked like a sick child.

"When was the last time you ate?" Reno asked

"I don't know. Not since before I was shot. I know that much."

"You need to eat something."

"I'm…not hungry."

"You still need to eat. You've lost a lot of blood, and if you don't get something in your system, you may die after all."

"…Would that…be so bad? The only reason that I'm alive is to run Shinra Incorporated. There is no other reason, so why should I live?"

"Because I don't think that you're supposed to die yet."

"Why?"

"Because you're too young."

"I've lived quite long enough to tell that there's no purpose to my being here. My life is meaningless."

"That's not true."

It was Rufus' turn to fall silent.

"Listen. Somewhere out there, there's somebody your life has affected. If you died now, you'd be leaving loose threads that never got tied off. You'd be leaving that person without letting them understand exactly who you are."

"And maybe there's not. Maybe there's nobody out there who cares."

"Or maybe it's me."

Rufus laughed. It was an expressionless cackle, void of any trace of happiness. It was the laugh of a monster, and it sent Reno's skin crawling. "You? You don't know anything about me. I'm not the type of person that you want to make friends with. I'm cold, heartless Rufus Shinra, remember? My name is known to many, and those who say it fear it and worship it like the name of a god. My father is not the one that they fear. I am."

"Then they're afraid of the wrong person."

"I'm worse, you know. I'm the real power behind this company. When there's something that needs to be done, I'm the one who gets my hands covered in the dirt and the blood. I'm stained. That white coat that I wear is a direct contrast to who I really am. I'm corrupted."

"I'm as black as smoke…as black as sin…"

"Then, we're two of a kind…"

"Please _leave_, Reno Kiribani, and let me die in peace."

"No."

"I'm ordering you to leave, Reno."

"I know, but I told you I'm a bad listener."

"I'm just so tired of being here. I just want to go to sleep and never get up. Why won't you give me that?"

"I told you already. You'd be leaving too many loose threads."

"You're not doing me a favor by keeping me alive, if that's what you think."

"Okay, so maybe I'm keeping you alive for purely selfish reasons. You're not the only corrupted one, you know."

Reno walked out, leaving the door open behind him. Rufus stared after him, puzzled.

The redhead walked back in a few minutes later with a box of crackers.

"Now eat."

* * *

"You know, I've never been force-fed into staying alive before," Rufus mused, brushing cracker crumbs off of his chest.

"Do you mean that literally or figuratively?"

"I guess both. I'm really mad at you, you know."

"I know. But you're still alive, right?"

"Yeah, thanks to you," sneered the blonde sarcastically.

"You're welcome."

"I thought that I told you that he was in no condition to speak to you."

Reno did a double take, cursing to himself as he spun around to see red. President Shinra was standing in front of him.

"Who are you to defy my orders like that, Turk?"

Reno didn't respond.

Rufus stood slowly, supporting himself with his right arm and wincing in pain as the wound in his shoulder throbbed under the pressure.

"He is here at my request."

Reno gaped.

"Who is he to you, boy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Father?"

Reno turned to stare at the strawberry blonde. There was mischief in the blue eyes, even though the small man swayed slightly in his weakness.

"Do not play these games with me, Rufus. You are in no condition to face my wrath."

"You won't do anything to me. You need me too much."

"I don't need you for anything."

"But if I die, then you'll actually have to work for a change, and I know how much you hate that."

Reno suddenly understood. Rufus wanted to die out of spite.

Shinra turned Reno around and grabbed him roughly by the collar.

"Leave him be," Rufus growled.

"The Turk is worthless to me, and his death would have no impact on my life whatsoever. Why do _you _defend him?"

"I said _leave him be._"

"You act like he's your_ boyfriend _or something, Rufus. Maybe that's why you won't take a wife. Is _that_ it?" Shinra sneered.

"Maybe it is."

"You're lying Rufus. I can see it. You're just trying to make me angry."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Fine, then _prove it_." Shinra shoved Reno in Rufus' direction.

Although he knew that Rufus was doing it purely as a means to spite his father, Reno shivered involuntarily as the blonde leaned against him and ran a thin finger along his jaw, a devilish glint in the blonde's eye and an impish smirk on his lips.

And, before Reno knew it, those lips were on his own.

Shinra screamed, knocking a picture off of Rufus' nightstand as Reno found himself returning the kiss.

Rufus was pulled away harshly and practically thrown backwards against the side of his bed. Shinra brought a hand down upon Reno's head. The redhead crumpled to the floor.

"You vile, petulant wretch! I'd be better off if you died!" And Shinra stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Reno got slowly to his feet, walking up to Rufus and looking down at the blonde, who looked even smaller than before.

"Reno, please leave. I'll be fine, just please leave."

And he did.

* * *

Miya's note: I am so freaking evil! Of course, those of you who've been following this story know that the next chapter will be coming soon (in a day or two)! This is one of my favourites so far. The only part that I like better than the second half of this chapter is the first part with Rufus in Junon in Ch. 4. What do you think? It's longer, to make up for the last update.


	7. Lust And Silence

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 7

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Whoo! I'm on Chapter 7! This is definitely the fastest that I've EVER written a fanfic before. I'm really surprised at how popular this is turning out to be. Runo is a really rare couple, and, compared to other yaoi couples with the two, like RufusXTseng and RenoXRude (NOOO!), there aren't many people who like these two together. Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way! Runo FOREVER! :D

So, they finally kissed! Hurrah! Though it wasn't a very _romantic_ smooch, per se….what will happen next?! (I'm so cheesy.) Oh, and, in case you haven't noticed, Rude talks quite a bit in this fic. I get the feeling that he, like Fujin, would talk more around close friends than he does around his enemies.

I read through the blasted fic again and noticed some typos that got through my initial proofreading. BLAST THEM! I keep using "you're" when I need to use "your". It's probably because I'm doing most of my writing at 2-3 in the morning! Of course, I'm also too lazy to correct the typos, as of now. Ah well.

To Cutter Cristoph Covens: Why, thank you! You want to make a comic out of my fanfic? REALLY?! Wow! [is honoured] If you really DO make a comic, you'll definitely have to show it to me!

To MyOwnShukuun: Thanks for the review! I'm really glad that you like it. Was this a fast enough update?

To pewp: LMAO

To Roxi: Let's BOTH hit Shinra with sticks! :D Oh, and correction, I update about every other day. LOL.

To Ezri-Candy: Let's all just get together and kill Shinra, shall we? Then, we can revive him and kill him again and again and again… I'm so glad that you like the fic!

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: Checked out your DA account, and I still need to look at those comics of yours. I'm so happy that you liked the kissy chapter, and yes, Reno needs to put a smile on Rufi's face.

To Kuro Yokai: First off, thanks for recommending my story to Ezri-Candy! That makes me feel truly honored! As for the kisses, you'll have to read and find out!

* * *

Tseng caught Reno in the hallway and stopped him to find that the redhead was walking slowly and in a daze.

"Reno, what happened? Did you find anything out?"

"…Yeah. It was the President."

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yes. Rufus told me everything." Reno fell silent and continued walking, Tseng beside him.

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, really."

Tseng, realizing that it would do no good to press the matter, changed subjects.

"You're quite a Turk, you know that?"

No response.

"Although you may not think it, you did a very good job on your first mission. You found the traitor in the first place, then stopped him and kept the Vice President alive. Now, you've uncovered a scandal that affects the whole company. You are a great asset to our ranks."

"…Thanks, Boss."

Tseng could hear that something was strange by the way Reno responded. It was as if his mind was in another place altogether. He could also hear a large amount of confusion in his newest Turk's voice, but he could tell that it would not be welcome for him to intrude.

"Tseng, could I take the rest of the day off? I need some time to think."

"I…of course. You've had a busy couple of days. Enjoy your rest."

"Thanks."

* * *

Reno spent the rest of the day locked in his room, eating, drinking, and smoking his way out of his thoughts. He had tried thinking already and didn't like the results. It was all too confusing, too blurred, too frightening.

Had Rufus Shinra actually _kissed _him? Had he actually kissed Rufus Shinra _back_? Even more, had he actually_ liked _it?

Impossible. Reno was a ladies' man. Reno was a womanizer. Reno was also not stupid enough to get into a relationship with his boss…

He took another large gulp of scotch. It really wasn't working all that well.

"Why did Rufus have to go and piss his father off like that?" Reno slurred slightly drunkenly. "Is he a friggin' masochist?"

The redhead desperately wanted to get the blonde V.P. out of his head, but it seemed like the harder he tried, the more prominent his thoughts of Rufus became, and the thing that he wanted to erase from his mind most of all was the hardest to get rid of: the worry that Rufus really _wasn't_ going to be alright.

Reno somehow felt that Rufus' lips had more to say than their words could express. When those lips had touched his, Reno felt that he had learned something secret and hidden about the man. He could feel Rufus' sadness…and he could feel that the blonde really _did_ want to die, a fact that scared him to no end.

Yet, Reno had left him alone, and it was probably already too late. The Turk took another large gulp of scotch, emptying his bottle. He was still too sober to get rid of the thoughts. He'd have to pass out before they went away. The guilt made Reno wish that he didn't have such a high alcohol tolerance.

* * *

But Rufus wasn't dead, and he wouldn't be for quite some time. Something about Reno's words had hit a chord in him, and Rufus suddenly found himself unable to give up. He crawled onto his be and plopped down on his stomach and thought.

It had definitely been an interesting day, and he had really outdone himself in annoying his father this time.

Reno.

Rufus did have to admit that he was a bit guilty. Though his father was more angry at him than ever before, Rufus had used Reno for his personal gain. In a way he had betrayed the man who had saved his life and shown a true concern for his health.

But then, why had Reno kissed him back?

The blonde decided that thinking on it would do no good. There was nothing that he could do until the next time that he saw Reno, so why worry about it? Rufus fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

It was almost a month before the Vice President and the Turk met again. At first, this worried Reno, but, since he hadn't heard any news, good or bad, things must be going fairly normally. After all, if Rufus had died, there would surely be gossip about it, right?

Rufus recovered slowly without the doctor's care, but he recovered nonetheless. Out of sheer rage, Shinra hadn't dropped in on his son in some time, partially hoping that the injured V.P. would wither away and die after all.

So, of course, Rufus did the exact opposite. Plus, it was hard to give up when he had finally gotten a break from the man that made his life a living hell.

Once Rufus felt that he was healthy enough to return to work, he did so, calling his Turks into the office.

"I never formally got to thank each of you for a job well done," he stated, nodding to each Turk in turn. "Without each of your contributions, I would not be sitting in front of you here today."

"Reno was the one who really saved you," Tseng interjected. "I believe that he is the one that you need to thank."

"Ah, yes. Though I have already spoken to Reno on the matter, I must express that my gratitude can never be enough."

Reno sensed that this wasn't all true. He had begun to realize that Rufus was an exceptional actor when it came to covering up his emotions. Though Rufus sat behind his desk, nodding and smiling cordially and with a politeness that one could only get from being brought up in a wealthy family, Reno knew that none of it was real. It seemed as if everything that Rufus did was a front.

Rufus noticed that the redhead was looking at him strangely.

"Reno, is something the matter?" Tseng asked his comrade, causing the subject to turn with a start, breaking his gaze from Rufus' mask of a face.

"It's nothing."

"You've been saying that a lot."

"Tseng, Rude," Rufus cut in, "may I speak to Reno for a moment? I have a feeling I know what's the matter."

Rude gave a wayward glance in Reno's direction and walked out. Tseng nodded and followed, closing the door behind him. Instead of waiting patiently outside, Rude put his ear up against the door. He had noticed Reno's strange behavior and wanted to know exactly what was going on. Though Tseng objected at first, the Turk leader soon found that his curiosity got the better of him, and he joined Rude in front of the doorway.

"Reno, listen, if you think…"Rufus murmured from inside the office walls.

"Was it real, or was it just something you did to piss your father off? If it was fake, you should win an award."

"I will answer in a moment, but first, I need to know _why_. I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about."

"Answer me first. Don't I deserve that?"

"Reno, I need you to tell me _why_ so that I can answer you truthfully."

"…It…was to make the whole thing more realistic. I mean, if it was just you, then your father would have known that it was all a lie."

Tseng and Rude looked at each other and Rude shrugged, getting annoyed as the next part was impossible to hear as the blonde and the redhead began to whisper.

"You're lying."

"What makes you think that?"

"If you were telling the truth, you wouldn't be this close to me."

Reno looked at Rufus and realized that he had been stepping slowly closer to the man as their conversation went on. The two were then less than a foot apart. Rufus smirked.

"You're right…" Reno whispered softer than before.

"To answer your question, it was all a lie…"

Reno stepped away from the blonde.

"…until the moment that you responded to me…"

"What?" Reno mouthed.

"That's when it became real," Rufus stated in his normal tone of voice. Rude and Tseng looked at each other confusedly.

Rufus left his desk and stepped up to Reno, whispering into his ear. "Do you mind me being this close to you?"

"No…" Reno whispered in a hush, his heart pounding for a reason that he didn't want to admit. "I mind you being that far away."

"Why?"

"Because…I liked it."

"You know, I'm still alive because of you. You get to thinking a lot when you have nothing to do. That's when I realized that I didn't want to leave anymore. I wanted to experience all that you have to offer."

"Rufus…I…"

"Don't talk, Reno. Just kiss me again."

Reno's heart seemed to be trying to make an exodus from his chest as he pulled back from Rufus a little and stared into his eyes. Was this really what he wanted? Why did Rufus make him feel this way? Why did Rufus bring out so much of his primal lust?

But, for the first time since that moment in Rufus' room, Reno pushed his thoughts aside and just went with it. Rufus moaned softly into Reno's mouth as he pressed his lips against the blonde's, a sound that sent a wave of electricity through the Turk's body. Rufus pressed himself close to the thin body in front of him, running one hand down Reno's back, the other entangled in the mass of crimson hair.

Tseng and Rude pressed their ears even harder against the doorway in an attempt to hear what was going on, but Rufus and Reno were almost silent in their passion, their only sounds meant for each other alone.

* * *

Miya's Note: WHOO! …That's about all that I have to say.


	8. Torture

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 8

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Wow! Chapter 8 already! Thanks to all of you WONDERFUL reviewers who helped to make this my most popular fanfic to date! Your support has also been what's helped me to update so fast…neglecting all of the stuff that I NEED to be doing! Hurrah! XD

To pewp: I didn't get the mail. Did you send it to miyamashi at msn . com?

Amatsu: Unfortunately, it's crank-time, and my updates will probably be coming slower. I have a summer reading list that I've only just started. I truthfully have no idea how many chapters this is going to be, and the limey goodness…well, you just wait and see!

MyOwnShukuun: Sorry that this one was slower. I'm glad that you liked it!

To Roxi: [Throws a Phoenix Down] No! No dying! BAAAAAD! Hehehe. "Gossip whores" is a good way to put it, although it made me think of Tseng and Rude in old lady dresses talking to each other over a fence…it's a strange and disturbing mental image, believe me.

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: I much prefer Runo over RudeXReno, too, but there are a lot of people who think otherwise, for some reason. [shivers] I've even heard the pair considered "almost canon" once. I really don't see it around THAT often! Now, TsengXRufus…THAT, I see all the time and don't support at all. I, for one, support ElenaXTsengXAeris…which is really a very depressing triangle. I have ideas for a fic that has that in it, but………AW, CRAP! I'm rambling! I'm sorry!

Runo Forevah!

Oh, and Rufi…I guess you could say he's a little better, but………

To Ezri-Candy: Let's get some Phoenix Downs and begin our Shinra reviving/killing escapade, shall we? LOL. And yeah, Rude and Tseng are nosey little buttheads.

To Kuro Yokai: Aww! I love you, too! [feels warm and fuzzy] XD I'm so glad that you liked the end. I'm really, really proud of that part!

* * *

It felt like far too short a time had passed when Rufus broke the kiss, but Reno had to admit that he had a point. Tseng and Rude were still outside, and if they didn't suspect that something was up by then, they definitely would if it kept up much longer.

"Now that I think we have that all settled, let's talk about what I brought you all here for," Rufus stated, fiddling with a piece of his hair that was sticking out in a strange direction.

Rude looked at Reno, who seemed to be failing at an attempt to keep his face expressionless. The redhead's eyes seemed strangely glazed over, and Rude wondered what all had been going on while he and Tseng had heard nothing but silence.

"Now that I am able to return to my job in full," Rufus continued, "my father is taking some time off at Costa Del Sol and needs bodyguards." Reno groaned. "While he would normally ask that all Turks accompany him on his vacation, he seems to have taken a particular dislike to the newest in your ranks."

Rude and Tseng looked at Reno as the redhead caught a laugh in his throat. Rufus smirked for a split-second. This especially piqued Tseng's curiosity. Why was Reno _laughing_ about the fact that the leader of the company that he worked for despised him? That could mean his job or worse…

Reno regained his composure as Rufus dismissed him and the other Turks. He made an attempt to stay behind, but Rufus gave him a look that told him that this would not be wise.

* * *

"Reno, do you find it amusing that the President does not like you?" Tseng asked outside of Rufus' office doors.

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"Do you know how risky that could be?"

Reno shrugged.

"Listen, Reno. You and Rude are like family to me. That is the way Turks are, but we _cannot _protect you from the President."

"I can protect myself from Shinra."

"He is a dangerous man, Reno. You, of all people, should know this, as it was you who discovered that it was indeed he who killed that doctor. You could very well meet a similar fate if you are not careful. Do you, by any chance, know what Shinra's grudge against you is? If he knows that you found his mistake out, chances are that you are in very great danger."

"I dunno. It's possible that he knows, I guess."

Both Tseng and Rude could see that Reno was hiding something.

"Reno, what's the deal with you and the V.P.?" Rude asked suddenly.

"He's a pretty nice guy, Rude, once you get to know him," Reno responded a bit too quickly, paling slightly.

"He seemed to know exactly what was wrong with you, so I guess that you've gotten to know him much better than either of us anticipated," Tseng added.

"And the Pres. doesn't like his son too much, does he?" Rude asked.

"No, not much, although I think the feeling's mutual. Maybe that's why the guy doesn't like me. I'm friends with the son that he hates," the redhead suggested, hoping that his friends would leave him alone. "If that's it, then I probably don't have anything to worry about, right?"

"I'm not sure, Reno. Just take care." Tseng nodded and gave an empathetic look before walking off. Rude gave a pat on the back and did the same.

Waiting until they were gone, Reno back-stepped into Rufus' office with a grin.

* * *

"Reno, what are you doing?" Rufus asked, looking up from his paperwork as the redhead shut the door behind him.

"I needed to ask you something."

Rufus put down his pen and gave the redhead his full attention.

"Why hasn't your dad killed me yet?"

Rufus sighed. "Because he's afraid of me."

"What? But he…" Rufus silenced him.

"Listen Reno. My father rules with gold. I rule with steel. He rules with money, and I with power."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I do not fear my father. I do not fear the pain and the beatings. I _do not fear death._ My father does. If he were to kill you, he knows that it would drive me to kill him, no matter the consequences."

Reno's stomach suddenly twisted itself into a knot.

"The only time my father ever actually shot me was around four years ago. He shot me in the shoulder from behind at point blank. I turned around and capped both of his knees out from under him. It was after he…disposed of my mother. I complained and he shot me. He was lucky that I did not kill him then. He is lucky each day that I let him continue to live his wretched life."

"He _killed _your mother?"

"No, he had somebody else do it. Bastard could never do anything himself, especially not face-to-face."

"Why…haven't you…?"

"I don't know. I suppose that the only reason I keep him around is as an affirmation that I am alive, to make me feel that boiling hatred and tell me that really am _human_."

"Rufus…" Reno shivered and made a move to comfort the blonde.

"Don't. Reno, I appreciate everything, but don't."

"I can't stand seeing you like this."

"Then leave."

"I can't do that either. Not this time."

Rufus didn't know why he chose that moment to reel Reno in for another kiss, but he did, slipping his tongue into the redhead's surprised mouth.

Reno felt tears hit his cheeks. They were not his.

* * *

The Turk had pulled himself against the desk, Rufus' body hard against him, shaking, trembling, sobbing silently. To Reno's surprise, Rufus suddenly switched their roles, pulling away and flipping his own back on top of the desk and pulling Reno's shirt so that he'd follow, both breathing heavily.

"Rufus, what…?"

"I'm sick of being the boss. I'm _sick _of being feared and begged to and…please, just take me away from it all…"

Reno, eyes slightly wide and lips pursed in surprise, found himself suddenly on the desk, straddling Rufus' hips in full clothing. The blonde smiled in a way that seemed to Reno more depressing than a frown ever could, his tears flowing freely, blotting the paperwork under his head and smearing the ink. Reno closed his eyes and captured that smile in his own mouth so that he wouldn't have to see it anymore.

But feeling it was worse.

In that moment, Rufus released more passion than Reno had ever felt in a person. His whole body shivered as if seeking sweet freedom in Reno. It was a pained eroticism, but it beckoned Reno on seductively and he pushed his hips into Rufus' forcefully, relishing the sweet saliva on his tongue and trying to ignore the taste of anguish.

As their bodies rubbed together, Reno could feel Rufus' slim fingers grasping the skin under his shirt. The redhead pushed on harder, letting the sunglasses fall from his hair onto the desk surface. He heard them crack, but didn't care.

Torture. Sweet, saccharine torture.

This was what Rufus poured into him. Reno pushed so hard that it hurt.

Rufus screamed silently into his mouth, the blonde's own tongue snaked around that of the man against him.

But, although he was on the bottom, Rufus realized, he was still in control, and he hated it. He gave in to Reno completely, and the Turk pushed ever harder, as if trying to wear a hole through the cloth that kept the two of them apart.

* * *

Miya: SORRY! SORRY! [grovels to readers] My muses said that it needed to stop there! Blame them! [looks around nervously] Okay, okay, so it's late, I was having sudden writer's block, and I felt that you guys deserved an update.

Originally, Rude walked in on them, but that just completely ruined the mood, so I nixed it. It was kind of funny, though. I should eventually put a "deleted scenes" section with that and the part that I cut earlier…both with Rude. Poor guy.

Why with clothing? I dunno. [shrugs] It just seemed_ less _natural…like it would go with the whole torture thing even more. Don't worry, that'll change soon enough.


	9. Crimson Tears

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 9

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: I apologize for the delay. Remember that writer's block I've been having? It got worse. But, now, after all this time, I bring you the most depressing chapter yet! Sorry it's so short, especially after how long you guys had to wait for it!

Oh…wow. You guys are such wonderful reviewers. I've never gotten this kind of reaction to one of my fanfics before. You guys don't know how good this makes me feel! Must…not…get…big…head………must…deflate…XD

This is also my longest fic chapter-wise, and if I keep it up, this is going to be my longest, PERIOD. It's going to even beat out Aftermath (which I STILL need to type up), which is 72 pages hand-written…and I don't write that big. I really have no idea how long this is going to be…

To kuja-46: This is the best Runo you've read? Seriously? ………Wow. I'm flattered. It's so nice to see that people are actually reading this and White Flag and enjoying them. hugs

To Tinkeu: Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you read White Flag, too. I still can't believe that you and others are seeing this as one of the best…it's a bit shocking, to tell the truth, but is still a huge confidence booster.

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: laughs Sorry I stopped! I just hope that you don't KILL me for this one…

To Roxi and pewp: All that I can think to say is…Thanks! I'm so creative! :D

To Kuro Yokai: Yeah, the poor guys! Wow…your favorite story on ALL of FF . net?!? O.O Wow…I'm…speechless.

To MyOwnShukuun: Writer's block got worse, but thanks anyway! :D Yes, your logic was quite good!

* * *

"Sir," stated the intercom shrilly from beside Rufus' head.

Rufus stopped mid-kiss and glared at the source of the interruption. "What the hell do you want, Janice? I'm _busy_."

"Sir, your father would like to see you before he leaves."

"Oh," growled the blonde. "Tell him I'll be up there in a minute."

"Very well, Sir."

Reno sat up and stared down at Rufus, who was cursing to himself.

"I hate your father. Do you know that?" Reno asked.

"Anybody who doesn't is either very stupid or very blind."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. I don't want you to risk your job or our exposure. I have a feeling that Rude and Tseng may suspect something already, and my father is angry enough at both of us as it is."

"Okay then. Just asking."

"Hopefully this won't take very long. I'll try to make it as quick as possible."

"I'll wait here."

"Alright."

Rufus walked up to his office window and looked into it, wiping the remaining tears from his eyes. After, he turned to Reno.

"Can you tell?"

"Your eyes are still red, but it looks like you got all the tears off of your face."

"Great. This is going to bring up some interesting questions with my father."

Reno shrugged and plopped down in Rufus' desk chair. The blonde strode out, shutting his door behind him, thinking of excuses as he went.

* * *

"Why are your eyes red, Rufus?" asked Shinra as his son stepped up to the desk.

"Allergies," Rufus lied calmly.

"What are you allergic to?"

The son paused. "Pollen. One of my many admirers decided to send me some flowers. She's from Kalm, I think."

"You think?" Shinra asked doubtfully.

"…I don't like to spend my energy remembering useless information like that."

"Of course not, because you have someone _else_ in mind," Shinra hissed tauntingly.

"Of course," Rufus snarled.

"The only reason that I am leaving that wretched Turk with _you _is because I don't want to have to be staring at him for my entire vacation. But, if I hear one word about _anything_ happening between you two while I am away, he will be the one to suffer."

"You won't do anything to him. You don't have the balls," Rufus retorted confidently.

"Oh, no, I don't think that you understand, boy. The other Turks already know about your little…_secret_, and are not very thrilled that their co-worker would get involved with you. It's not very businesslike, you know, forming a relationship with one's boss. If anything happens, he will lose his job and his life."

"And _you will lose yours_."

"You misunderstand me. Do you believe that I am stupid enough to leave myself unguarded around a raging lunatic like yourself?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

"I have made certain arrangements with the other Turks regarding your possible rebuttal. As I am the President and you are only the Vice President, my safety is priority. If you even attempt to respond in any violent matter, you will be killed on contact. Do I make myself clear?"

"_Perfectly,_" Rufus hissed angrily.

"You will sever all contacts with that Turk immediately, and you will take a wife. If you do not, and _he_ ends up dead, know that you will be the one to blame."

Shinra had hit a chord in Rufus, and he knew it.

"You, boy, must accept your fate," Shinra continued, sitting back in his chair.

"What if I don't believe in _fate_?"

"Then the Turk suffers."

* * *

"Leave now," Rufus stated, expressionless, as he walked into his office and pulled Reno out of his desk chair.

"What?" Reno asked suddenly.

"I said to leave now. I never want to see your face in this office again, unless you are called in for business manners."

"What's…gotten into you?"

"Nothing, Kiribani."

Reno grimaced.

"Do you really believe that there was ever anything between us?" Rufus growled. "You are a fool."

"You're a fucking bastard, Shinra."

Rufus laughed heartlessly as Reno slammed his hand down on the desk, picking up a letter opener.

"What do you expect?" the blonde stated coldly. "Being a Turk, I thought that you would be smarter. I thought that maybe you'd figure out the little game earlier, but I guess that any idiot can get into the ranks these days. Now, go off and cry, little Turk, and save me the torture of having to look at you."

"Do you want to see my _tears? Do you want me to show them to you?_ Only the best for you, _Sir_. Tears that leave a permanent mark. Tears that you can never forget." Reno brought the letter opener to his face and pushed the tip hard into it, pulling it down across the skin just under his eye, so hard that it cut through the flesh and scraped against his cheekbone. Blood ran down one cheek. "Blood tears. So dark that they stain and so thick that there have to be a lot before they begin to run freely."

Rufus tried to hide the pain that he felt at that moment, tried to stop the tears that were threatening to mirror Reno's crimson ones as the redhead made a sister to the gash already on his right cheek. Reno threw the letter opener down to the ground and walked out.

Rufus dropped to his knees as the door shut with a loud bang and let his own tears flow, falling on the dull, bloody blade and wanting nothing more than to wash the other man's crimson tears away...

* * *

Miya's Note: Sorry again for the delay. I also have to apologize ahead of time, as the next chapter may come just as, if not more slowly. School's about to start back up, and there are things that I've been procrastinating on for far too long. I also need to get my community service hours for NHS. School takes priority over fanfiction, as much as I hate to admit it…

I really appreciate all of your support.


	10. The Only Way

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 10

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: My writer's block got better! I wrote Ch. 9 and then went straight to this one. I have some interesting ideas for what's to come. I think that this ultra-fast update makes up for the last one, too…right?

…Poor guys. In case you can't tell, the first section is Rufus' thoughts. This is also my longest chapter. I guess it's to make up for the last one, which was the shortest! I, personally, don't think that it's my best, but I'll let you decide for yourselves what you think. Beware of language, especially in the sections with Reno. The guy's not a happy camper.

I can't say it enough. I hate President Shinra.

To Kuro Yokai: [looks at date] Yup, it's before the 16th! Happy? I think that's the same day that I go back to school…[grumbles]

Roxi: Feel free to hug all you want. Just don't suffocate them, okay? ;D

Kuja-46: Yesssss…angst is good. Thanks for the compliment!

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: Yeah, I was cringing when I was writing that part…that would hurt so much, especially with something dull like a letter opener. Rufi's obeying his father because he doen't want to risk Reno being killed. Oh, and if you've read White Flag, you should know the answer to your last question…or I'll just say that what kind of romance fic would this be if they didn't get back together?

* * *

'It was what had to be done…'

'It was the only way…'

'Right?'

'He'll be better off this way…'

'It's better than losing his life…'

'But…why…?'

'Why does it have to be this way?'

'It hurts…so much…'

'Why?'

* * *

The crimson tears ran from Reno's cheeks down onto his chest. They burned him. He had been such a fool…such a trusting, ignorant fool.

He thought that he had actually felt something for Rufus…but it was all a game.

Just a sick, twisted little game.

He had to talk to somebody. He had to tell somebody before the pain tore him apart.

But why? It was nothing but lust. Sure, he felt something, but it was lust. It was hunger, and he was starved. Nothing more.

So why did it hurt so damn much?

Reno knocked on Tseng's office door, hoping that his boss hadn't already left for Costa Del Sol. Luckily, the black-haired Turk was taking care of some last-minute paperwork. Tseng opened his door to find a very disheveled, bloodied Reno.

"Reno…...lords, what happened to you?"

"That bastard….that fucking bastard…" Reno's true tears mingled with the blood on his cheeks, the salt stinging the fresh wounds.

Tseng ushered the redhead into his office. "Who did this to you?"

"Rufus Shinra," Reno hissed slowly.

"Is what the President said about you true?"

"What did he say?"

"That…you and Rufus have……had…a relationship."

"I thought that we did…sort of."

"What do you mean?" Tseng asked gently, sitting down in a chair and looking at Reno empathetically.

"He was playing a game with me. He wanted something to annoy his father, so he used me…"

"And he did this to you? He made those cuts?"

"…No. I did."

"…What?"

"I told him that…these are my tears…"

"What's gotten into you, Reno? Why would you even think of doing something like that?"

"I. don't. know," Reno growled angrily. "Do you think that I came to you to have you criticize my actions?"

"Reno! Calm down…I'm asking you because I'm worried about you! I need to know what exactly happened. I'm beginning to think that it's impossible to trust any of the authority around here, and I need to know what's going on." Tseng paused for a long while before continuing. "…Did you…love him?"

"_No_. Something about him made me want him…but it wasn't _love_."

"I…see."

"He used that fact to his advantage. The guy can read minds or something, I swear. He acted like he wanted me, too. Told me all these secrets about him…probably all lies. Then, he just came into his office and told me to get out. Told me how he been playing me, how I'd been such a fool to trust him. He was right. He's _always_ right…just like fucking Pulitz…"

"I hate to tell you this, but it's probably just as well…"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"The President gave us strict orders that if you continued your relationship with his son in any way, shape, or form, that we were to kill you on the spot."

"…What? But…Rufus said…" Reno became suddenly quiet, staring down at his feet, blood dripping from his face onto the carpeting.

Tseng was silent.

"Sorry to…waste your time…and sorry about the carpet." Reno rushed out, leaving Tseng staring sadly at the door.

* * *

"I talked to Reno," Tseng whispered to Rude outside of the entrance of Shinra's Costa Del Sol villa.

"It's another one of Shinra's lies, right? Reno wouldn't be…involved with _Rufus Shinra_…"

"I'm afraid Shinra was telling the truth."

Rude stood silently, letting the fact sink in.

"I'm worried about him. He wasn't acting at all like himself," Tseng murmured, shaking his head. "Can you believe that he cut himself…said that the blood was 'his tears'?"

"What? What the hell was he thinking? Has he gone nuts?"

"I don't know…but I think that there's something seriously wrong with him. The conversation also gave me reason to believe that Reno may have been wrong about Shinra being the one to have killed that doctor. He said that Rufus had been lying to him, so I don't know if we can trust the Vice President's word."

"Shit…this isn't good. I hope Reno doesn't do anything stupid while we're gone…"

* * *

Rufus sat at his desk, fiddling idly with the broken sunglasses that Reno had left. There were dark bags under his eyes that were left from his sleepless night, and his normally smooth hair was frizzed and oily. He sat with a pen at his fingertips and a half-finished letter in front of him, dreading what he had to do next.

He had to keep both parts of the bargain, or Reno would be in danger.

He had to find a wife.

It wasn't like there was a shortage of women lined up to marry him for his money and his looks, and it wasn't as if it made a difference which one he picked, as Rufus didn't have feelings toward any of them, but he still found it difficult to decide which woman he would take as a bride.

He turned the sunglasses around in his free hand.

The door to his office opened slowly, and Janice the secretary walked in with a cup of coffee. Rufus didn't look up.

"Sir, I brought you some coffee. You look like you need it."

Rufus still didn't flinch.

"Sir, are you alright? You don't seem like yourself today."

The blonde finally left his reverie and turned his gaze from the cracked lenses of the shades to his secretary, who was giving him a worried look.

"Thank you, Janice. Just leave the cup on my desk."

Janice set the cup on the wooden surface, but continued to stand in front of her boss. "Do you need anything else? You look like you could use something to get your mind off of whatever it is that you're thinking about."

"Why do you care?"

"Well, it's my job, for one. Plus, I don't like seeing anybody like this, Sir."

"I appreciate your concern." Rufus had a sudden idea. "Janice, are you married?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It has come to the point where I must find a wife, and your concern for my welfare has proved that you would at least care for more than my money. I understand if you do not wish to marry a man whom you do not know, much less have feelings for, but…" Rufus went completely silent and stared back at the sunglasses, wondering what had gotten into him.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I already have a husband, and am quite happy with him."

"Very well," Rufus said without looking up. "Thank you for your time, Janice, and I wish you and your husband many years of happiness."

"…Thank you, Sir." And Janice walked out, leaving Rufus again with the problem of having to pick a wife out of the mass of women that his father had picked. He finally just decided to pick one and not worry about it. It wouldn't make a difference either way, so why beat himself up about it more than he had to?

He finally settled on the last name that he could remember.

* * *

High up on the sixty-first floor of Shinra Headquarters, a letter arrived, wrapped beautifully in an envelope of fine parchment. It was short, but it nonetheless caused the woman who had received it to flush brilliantly.

Dearest Malita,

My most sincere apologies concerning our last meeting, and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me and consider giving me the honor of taking your hand in marriage. I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Rufus Shinra

"Can you believe it, Leiza?" Malita squealed. "The little asshole is actually apologizing to _me_."

"He's very eloquent, isn't he?" Leiza mused, reading the letter over. "I, personally, think that you should forgive and forget. There are certain advantages to marrying the Vice President, after all."

"That's true, but it's kind of tempting to tell him 'no'. Make him _beg_ for it."

"You can make him beg all you want once you've married him. Too much risk if you do it now."

"You're right. I think that I'll go tell him."

"No, Malita. At least make him wait. A _little_ torture is still good."

* * *

Malita was shocked and a bit annoyed to find that Rufus was remarkably patient regarding her reply. When she arrived in his office two days later, he was sitting at his desk doing paperwork. Everything seemed very _normal_ to Malita as Rufus folded his hands on top of each other and gave her a demure look. The only thing that was strange about the whole ordeal was the assortment of objects on the blonde's desk. Broken sunglasses? Empty coffee cups? A bottle of vodka?

Does that letter opener have _blood_ on it?

"Ah, so I see you got my letter," Rufus stated simply, staying remarkably calm.

"Yes, and I accept," Malita replied, although she was suddenly nervous.

"_Wonderful_."

* * *

When President Shinra returned from his vacation, he was very pleased to find that his son had finally chosen a wife. He called the boy into his office to discuss the matter.

"So, I see that you took my advice and broke contact with the Turk," Shinra stated triumphantly.

"Yes, _Father_." Rufus' gaze was icy.

"And you have chosen a suitable wife?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Malita Cunningham."

"Who?"

"The barmaid."

"Ah. She is quite acceptable."

Rufus was silent, and the ice in his eyes was sub-zero.

"Stop your insolent glaring immediately."

Rufus stood stock-still, his frigid gaze unwavering.

* * *

A _wedding_. He was being invited to a _wedding_.

And it was Rufus'.

Reno ran a finger over one slowly healing gash.

That _bastard_.

But Reno would go to the wedding, if only to show that he was over Rufus Shinra. Even the lust had begun to subside, being replaced by disgust. Each night, Reno showered longer than he ever used to, scrubbing his skin raw and feeling dirty for ever touching the blonde. Even worse, he had almost gotten to the point of _fucking _him.

He liked women better, anyway.

What Reno didn't want to admit was that, after Rufus, the women that he had slept with seemed sub-par, although he had never actually slept with Rufus at all. Just the taste of the man's lips and the feel of his body pressed against his own was enough to tell him that it was true.

But he would go to the wedding. He would go to the wedding and be sorry for the poor wench who had to be the wife. He would go and he would prove that he was stronger.

He would go and he would laugh in Rufus Shinra's smug, pretty-boy face.

* * *

Miya's Note: So? What do you think? The next chapter is going to be the wedding, and--let me tell you--it's going to be _interesting_.


	11. Sweat, Blood, and Blackmail

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 11

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: This chapter has some of my favourite and least favourite parts… It's also the darkest…and the longest by FAR! It's a bit silly near the end, though, but it somehow manages to work, I think. Thanks for over 50 reviews! I can't believe this fic has gotten so much good attention! Sorry it took so long, though. I went through quite a few revisions of the second half before I found one that I liked. I knew mostly what I _wanted_ to happen, but it took a few tries before I made it work.

To Nanaki BH: (although I doubt you'll read this) Ah! I was wondering if and when I'd get a bad review! I don't particularly like critique either, but I'll take it, just for you. I don't know what Gravitation is, actually. It's an anime/manga, I assume? Probably the reason why I add so much dialogue is because I'm so used to writing scripts. Plus, when things happen, what to people do? They talk. It just seemed like the natural thing to write. I don't see why you'd want me to describe boring things, but oh well. To each his/her own, right?

Oh, and Reno actually knows Malita better than Rufus does, seeing as he spends quite a bit of time at her bar. Randomly thought I point that out.

Sorry this was such a burden for you to read.

The only thing that I don't get is why you critique if you don't like to be critiqued…that doesn't make sense to me.

To AoiGensou: Thanks a bunch. Telling an author that he or she writes very "real" characters is one of the best compliments you can give, and I really appreciate it.

To Catnip25 (AKA: badbubbles…another name change! :D) comforts you I'm so sorry I made you cry! I hope this one makes it better!

To MyOwnShukuun: Yeah, I love the unblockage…(What the crap? "Unblockage"? I'm vocabulating!)…until it comes back on a particular spot and makes me re-write various times! GRR! To answer your question, it depends on your idea of drastic. ;)

To kuja-46: Aww, I love you, too! [hug] I'm sorry I made you count for so long.

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: Who would be the one in the dress? Truthfully, I think that Rufus would pull it off better, as Reno tried cross-dressing already and was horrid at it. I'm so glad that you liked WF, and am happy that it upped your appreciation for the couple.

To Kuro Yokai: All that I'm saying is that I always keep my promises. :D

To Tinkeu: I never liked Malita much either, even before she was all that evil. And, when I don't like characters…you'll just have to read and see!

* * *

The wedding was being held in the Shinra building itself, in an elaborately decorated great hall on floor 36, and Reno's stomach tightened into a knot as he walked in.

It was _perfect_, like something out of a storybook.

Ah, the things that money could do.

He was still dressed in his Turk uniform, as it was his only suit, but he had, for once, taken some care in the way he wore it. He had also made some attempt to tame his hair, but it continued to stand out in various directions, looking even more messy for the lack of sunglasses to keep it out of his face.

He looked around dazedly, scanning for a familiar face, and eventually settled on Rude, who looked almost the same as usual, except for the fact that he had taken his own sunglasses off. Tseng was next to him, and the Turk leader had somehow managed to look more proper than usual. Must've been the cufflinks.

Rude, who hadn't seen Reno since his return from Costa Del Sol, looked at his comrade's wounds with disgust.

"Reno, Tseng told me everything. I can't believe you're actually here."

"Had to. I just couldn't miss _this_."

"Your cuts seem to be healing…nicely," said Tseng.

Reno grunted in reply.

The Turks were silent as the guests settled into their seats and the marriage itself began. Reno watched, but he didn't see. He listened, but he didn't hear. The only thing that played in his mind throughout the whole ordeal was a slowly shifting video of Rufus in his black wedding suit. It looked more like a funeral than a wedding to the redhead, and he noticed that Rufus did not seem to be enjoying himself in the least. He was solemn throughout the whole endeavor, and Reno could swear that he saw the blonde's fist clench as he kissed his bride.

Serves him right.

But, still, any plans that Reno had thought up the nights before to spite his almost-kind of-lover faded from his mind as the nightmare played.

* * *

Reno had come. Why? Rufus had hoped that he wouldn't come…that he wouldn't have to see _this_…his marriage to the now Malita Shinra. It was official. He was a husband, as much as he didn't want to be one.

The kiss had been pure torture. Malita had wrapped her arms around him, pressing her lips to his and forcing her tongue into his unwilling mouth. The taste was a bitter one: a mix of greedy ambition and the alcohol that the woman toiled with and seduced with each day as she worked in her small café.

He looked down at Reno with a mix of sorrow and regret. The Turk was staring at him as if hypnotized. Green eyes locked with blue, but the gaze was broken as the Lady Shinra tugged on her spouse's arm.

"What are you staring at, _hon_?" Malita asked crossly.

"It's nothing…nothing at all." And Rufus turned to her, allowing himself to be pulled down from the altar into the crowd.

"It's time for the reception. Lighten up, babe."

Rufus didn't respond, and he certainly didn't lighten up.

Leiza ran hurriedly up to the two, letting out a squeal of delight. Malita let go of Rufus and grabbed hold of her friend's hands, bouncing up and down a little. Rufus forced a slight smile.

"Wow, Malita…I mean _Mrs. Shinra_…wasn't that exciting?" Leiza screeched. The rest of the conversation went by without Rufus noticing. His eyes followed a splash of red that was moving desolately in the direction of the bar.

"I need to…use the restroom," Rufus lied. He just needed to get away.

"Oh, fine. Just don't be too long, alright? You don't want to miss the party!"

"Yeah."

* * *

Reno caught a glimpse of Rufus out of his peripheral vision. The blonde was heading out into the hallway, and he was alone.

'Now's my chance to pay the little shithead back,' Reno thought to himself as he stood from his seat and followed the Vice President's retreating form. He stopped a few feet away from the other man, glaring at him from under his hair.

"The barmaid's a bitch, but you don't deserve more, so I guess it's fitting," Reno snarled to Rufus, who was leaned up against a wall, his head in his hand.

"Reno, go away."

"No," the redhead retorted indignantly. "I'm not leaving until I get fair payback."

"You deserve no less."

"Stop playing these games with me, _Rufus_. I know you're just trying to get me to leave."

Rufus heard voices coming around the corner, and he grabbed Reno's collar roughly and dragged him into an empty room, one hand over the man's mouth so that he wouldn't cry out.

"Get your fucking slimy hands off of me," Reno snarled as he beat Rufus away and the blonde shut the door and locked it, "and what the hell are you doing?"

"Listen, Reno, I don't expect you to get why I said those things to you."

"What the fuck are you talking about? I know damn well what you were saying to me and why!"

"It's not what you think. Now, shut up and let me _talk_," Rufus hissed, and he had to backhand the redhead hard across face, his knuckles leaving red marks, before the man would let him get a word in edgewise.

Reno stared at Rufus with absolute hatred in his eyes.

"I had to get you away from me, or else you might have ended up _dead_, did you know that? My father would have you killed so fast that you would never see what was coming."

"And that's where your logic fails. You're contradicting yourself. Whatever happened to your father being too afraid of you to do anything?"

"The bastard finally wizened up and got _your co-workers_ on his side. If I were to try anything, you wouldn't be the only dead one, and I'd be joining you in Hell."

"Oh, but I thought that you weren't _afraid_ of death, Mr. Big-shot Shinra," Reno taunted

"By the time I could respond, you'd already be gone, and it'd all be because of me...it's not me that I'm worried about…" Rufus cast his eyes down to the floor as his voice trailed off.

Reno stared. Was he actually _serious_?"Every little bit of sense that's left in my head right now is telling me that I shouldn't trust you…that I should unlock that door and walk back to the bar and drink myself into a stupor…but something about you makes me want to believe you…" Reno said softly, the anger fading from his voice. "What is it about you that makes me want to think that, this time, you're telling me the truth?"

"I don't know, and I don't think that I deserve that from you. I've hurt you enough. Go ahead and leave."

"I can't, not as long as there may be a chance that you're not lying to me. I know that I'm going to regret this later, but…" and Reno pushed Rufus against the wall and trapped the man's body behind his.

"No, Reno. Don't. It's too risky."

"Let them kill me. At least I'll die in a happy state of denial."

Reno let his body take over where his mind left off, pressing his lips against those of the other man and slowly unbuttoning his jacket. Rufus tried to push him away, or at least he feigned to try, as Reno's hands an lips sent his mind into a stupor, his lust taking over completely.

Reno undid Rufus' shirt and ran his hands softly down the soft but scar-covered flesh. The blonde pressed his head back against the wall, letting out a slight sigh of pleasure as he hurriedly fumbled with the redhead's tie.

The blonde slid to the floor, pulling the Turk along with him, laying on his back and letting the other man spread out on top of him. His shirt and jacket sprawled out over the cold tile, completely exposing the thin chest underneath. Reno moved down from Rufus' mouth to his stomach, trailing kisses and hungry licks down his body.

And this time, Reno was in complete control.

Ties off, jackets off, shirts off. Halfway there. Reno sat up and looked down at the blonde, whose eyes were glazed over and somehow warmer than usual. A smile danced on Rufus' lips, and, this time, it was a real one, unaccompanied by tears and pain.

The world went quiet as the two became completely absorbed in this world of warmth and venerability. The rest of the clothes came off, and the two moved to lay on their sides, Reno behind Rufus, the blonde losing any semblance of control that he had when he was facing toward the other man.

Reno pushed himself deep into the blonde's willing body, sending the man into slight convulsions of painful ecstasy. Somehow, this forced submission was sweeter to Rufus than orgasm itself, for a moment freeing him from the oppressive chains of leadership.

Ironic how much freedom lay in being conquered.

Rufus basked in this dirty pleasure, bathed in the heat of Reno's flesh within his own, soaked in the lifeblood of his succulent adultery…oh, sweet cleansing fire…

Stronger, stronger came the bliss, in rhythm with the body behind him. He gasped, he moaned, he wanted to cry out that wonderful name…Reno, _Reno_, oh what you did to him…

* * *

The reception was over, cancelled by the Lady Shinra herself for lack of the husband to celebrate it with. Almost in tears, Malita stepped up to the microphone at the front of the room nearly an hour after Rufus had left to "use the restroom" and announced that he had gone missing. This caused many in the room to gasp and begin whispering amongst themselves.

This announcement especially alarmed Rude and Tseng, who had noticed that their comrade had also disappeared.

"I hope that he hasn't done something stupid," Rude said to Tseng, who nodded his head solemnly.

"Like murder the Vice President," was the reply.

"Or get murdered by the Vice President."

Shinra stormed up to the two Turks, his face as red as his suit. "Find him! This is your line of work, so _find him_, damnit!" screamed the President.

"I'm coming with you," the bride stated determinedly, standing behind her father-in-law.

"Mrs. Shinra," Tseng interjected, "I assure you that we will find your husband. There is no need for you to come along."

"I don't care," Malita screeched stubbornly, "I'm coming, whether you like it or not!"

Tseng had to keep himself from saying something that he'd regret.

"She is going," Shinra stated blandly. "I am leaving it in her hands to _tame_ my wreck of a son." It could be inferred by Shinra's tone of voice that he meant what he said, and that he truly believed his son an animal worth taming.

"Very well," Tseng agreed slowly. He stepped into the hall, Rude close behind him, and Malita tagging along not far after.

Shinra stared behind them, noticing at once that the third Turk was nowhere to be found. He narrowed his eyes and also strode into the hallway, eager to see that man's death first-hand.

* * *

Reno pulled slowly from Rufus, letting the blonde sink back onto the hot floor. Staring up at the ceiling, Rufus smiled, the sweat running down his face and body and his skin flushed. He turned to face Reno and smirked.

Reno gave him a lopsided grin in return, scooting up to his lover and laying his head on his chest.

"It's a bit hot to be doing that, you know," Rufus stated, looking down at the mass of red hair that was sticking to his torso.

"I know, but you're more comfortable than the floor."

Rufus chuckled warmly for the first time in years. "I wonder if they've even noticed that we're gone."

"I don't really care. This was worth it."

Rufus had begun to idly pet Reno's hair, when the door handle rattled. He hushed the redhead hurriedly and sat up, scooting over to his clothing and pulling on his pants. He handed Reno's to him, and the other man followed suit. The sound of voices could be heard outside, but it was unclear what they were saying.

The door handle rattled harder, and the men inside the room hurried to get dressed.

But before they could finish, Rude kicked the door open. Reno and Rufus stood half-clothed in front of Reno's co-workers and Rufus' father and wife.

As his heart began to pound quickly in his chest, Reno found himself repeating the same four words in his head over and over again, _'This was worth it…this was worth it…'_

Rufus dashed in front of him as Tseng, Rude, and Shinra all pulled out handguns.

"You!" Malita screamed at her husband. "You son of a bitch! Who is this man?" She turned to Tseng. "Give me the gun! _Give it to me! _I'll kill him _myself_!"

But he didn't ,and she leapt at him, trying to wrestle the pistol from his grip. Because he didn't want to risk hurting her, especially not in front of President Shinra, he didn't fight back quite hard enough, and she stole the gun away from him, pointing it directly at Rufus' heart.

"No, you worthless wench!" Shinra screamed, causing the distraught wife's head to turn quickly. "Kill the redheaded bastard, not him. He's worth too much!"

"_I don't fucking care what he's worth_," she hissed. "_He deserves to **pay**." _Shinra glared at her as she cocked the gun, and she realized that killing Rufus would mean her death as well, and instead of firing, she turned the gun on herself, in a plan to scare her husband senseless.

"Don't, Malita," Rufus snarled. "It's not worth your life."

She responded by placing the shaft of the handgun's silencer in her mouth and licking it suggestively. Nobody moved, in fear of setting her off and causing her to pull the trigger.

But guns were not Malita Shinra's specialty, and she was dead before she ever realized she had fired.

Tseng's pistol clattered to the ground and the mutilated corpse of Malita Shinra fell forward, her blood splattering the tile and people before her and mixing with Rufus and Reno's sweat and semen. The silence seemed to multiply by tenfold. The only sound was the slow, steady "drip, drip, drip" of blood on the tile.

Rufus tried to feel remorse, but couldn't; tried to feel guilt, but failed. This lack of feelings disturbed him more than the corpse itself. He wanted to feel something--_anything_--for the dead woman before him…his own wife.

But he didn't. He felt nothing.

Nothing at all.

Reno found that he couldn't do anything but stare at the body. Death had come so fast for her…so unexpectedly…he hadn't thought that she would actually shoot...

A drop of her blood ran down his nose and hit the floor.

Shinra was the first to speak, but it wasn't until after a long pause. "You," he growled, pointing to Rufus. "This is your fault, you ungrateful wretch! You despicable _heathen_, giving your body to that…_man_…"

"Are you disgusted, father?" Rufus taunted coldly. "Are you sickened to think about it? Even worse, what sickens you more: that I would sleep with Reno, or that she's dead because of it? I bet I know the answer…"

"You're nothing, Rufus. You're nothing but a disgrace to the name of Shinra."

"Changing the subject, are we, Father? What if I were to take the gun," he stepped forward and picked it up from the macabre puddle as he said this, "and meet a similar fate? Would you care? Would you even blink? Or would you laugh? What does that make you?" Rufus unscrewed the silencer from the gun and pointed it to his head. "It'll sure make a racket, though, don't you think, _when_ I fire?"

Reno flinched…was this another game?

"I don't think that I'm the one who's afraid." Rufus continued. "I can see it. Half of you wants me to fire, but the other half tells you that I have to be stopped…that it'll do too much damage to your precious _company _if I die now."

Shinra's fist clenched around the handle of his own gun.

"Drop it, Father. Drop the weapon."

He did.

"You too, Rude."

Rude stood still until Shinra ordered him to listen to Rufus. His gun also fell to the ground.

"Now, you will let Reno go, and we will never speak of this again. Two can play at this death game. Malita killed _herself_. You saw it. She was playing with things that were too big for her. _Terrible_ tragedy."

"You won't always have that gun to your head, Rufus."

"You're right, but, for now, this proves that you _know_ that I'm not afraid to pull the trigger. Reno, leave. Get off of this floor and go somewhere where nobody will see you."

Reno picked up his clothing, finished getting dressed, and walked out.

"Rude, Tseng, I suggest that you do the same." He cocked the gun for good measure.

They picked up the two firearms on the floor, tucking them into their jackets, and left.

"Just you and me now. Let's have a little father-to-son chat, shall we?" the younger man said.

"What are you playing at? What does this accomplish?"

Rufus grinned and shot himself in the leg. He fell to the ground as screams began to reverberate from the reception hall, prompted by the loud bang of the weapon's fire.

Shinra stared, not knowing what to do, as Rufus crawled up to his wife's body, handing the gun hurriedly to his father.

"Finish it. Go ahead. Finish it now. Can you?"

But the father couldn't do it. A group of the wedding guests crowded behind the door nervously, their natural twisted curiosity taking over. Rufus took this opportunity to play his own game.

"Why? Why, Father? Why did you have to just shoot my _leg_?" Rufus screamed dramatically, grasping his face with his bloody hands and running them down his chest. "Why couldn't you just kill me? Why couldn't you let me join her? You killed her, so why, oh why couldn't you do the same to me?"

The crowd gasped, and one woman pointed a finger at the President, who dropped the gun that had been so craftily placed into his hand.

"Why, _why, **why**?_" Rufus moaned, dropping down further and grabbing his wife's body, holding it to him and pretending to sob fitfully.

* * *

"You have to love people and their strange tendency to automatically put their trust in the better looking man," Rufus said to Reno as he showered the remnants of the day off of his body.

"That was a ballsy move," Reno responded, holding his lover up.

"I train with the Turks on my spare time, remember?"

"You'd be a good one, you know that?"

"Do you want to trade? I'll be a Turk and you can be the Vice President."

"No. Even if I could, I don't think I'd want to."

"Not even for a day?"

"Not unless you were on vacation and I had a really nasty mission."

Rufus smiled. "Put me down."

Reno complied, setting the blonde on the shower's floor carefully.

"Don't just stand there," Rufus stated impatiently.

"What?"

"Why do you think I called you in here?"

"Rufus, your wife _died_ today because of…us."

"I know, and that's why I need this. I need to feel _something_. I need to stop feeling so empty. You're the only one who can give me that."

And they were back at square one again: the feeling to ease Rufus' sorrow…the irresistible feeling that seemed at once so painful.

And Reno made love to Rufus again that night, taking the blonde into his mouth in a subconscious homage to Malita Shinra's last moments.

* * *

Miya: I'm a twisted, twisted girl, aren't I? I hope you enjoyed this one, for the delay I made you all wait through.

Citrus! Finally! I really don't know whether to consider this one lime or lemon…it's not nearly as descriptive as some I've read, but it's not exactly "clean" (at all), either. I think that it treads the line between the two. What do YOU think? My favourite part of this fic has changed again, too. Now, I like the end of section three (raunchy section), the last two paragraphs in particular.


	12. Vengeance

****

Business As Usual:

Chapter 12

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Sorry it took so long to update, but I got back to school, and my class work's been taking up most of my time.

I printed out a copy of this fic so that my friends could read it and…IT'S FRIGGIN' LONG!!! My guesstimate how long it's going to be is at LEAST 30 chapters, and probably more. Do you realize that this only covers about three months in about an eight year period? I'm not going moment-by-moment, though. Thank goodness!

To Nanaki-BH: Yay! I have an official flamer! I write scripts because I'm a drama geek. The two tend to kind of mesh together. Oh, and I didn't even want Rufus to marry Malita. Of course, what my brain tells me to write, I must write, or it goes on strike. BLAST YOU, BRAIN! At least I killed her off, right?

I looked up Gravitation right after I got your last review, and it sounds interesting. I had already heard of Trigun, but I've never read any of the mangas and have only seen one episode. I'm very deprived in my anime/manga…too broke…

Did you like the leg-shooting part, or was it too overdone? Rufus was trying to be melodramatic.

Don't worry. No more weddings. Although Rufi's a widow now and Reno's still single, one wedding was enough.

To MyOwnShukuun: I laughed, too.

To Kuro Yokai: Yesss, this be your dedicated grapefruit. (Let's call it a grapefruit, like you said. I don't like "limon".) And…OH, THE IRONY! I went to Nanaki-BH's fic up there, and read it, along with your review. So, the Runos you like are mine and the one that my official flamer wrote? Hehehe…that's funny.

To Mashimaro-Byul-012: Let's sing the "Malita's Dead" song! sings song

To kuja-46: Do you want to join in the singing and dancing, too? Come on! Let's all celebrate together!

To roxi: It's okay. Mmmn, citrus.

To catnip25: Just wondering: who are Prance and Shanella?

AoiGensou: Glad you liked it. Rufus loves his little games.

To Tinkeu: Oh, you're sadistic, too? Do you want to join in the celebration with the other reviewers? We can add the "Haha, Shinra, you sucker!" song to the list!

* * *

"_Who did this?_" hissed Leiza as she hurriedly pulled the sheet back over what was left of her friend. She tried to hold back her angry tears, but her mascara made dark shadows under her eyes.

"It was a Turk named Reno Kiribani." Shinra held up Reno's file, which Leiza snatched from his hand, staring at it before pulling the Turk's picture out and ripping it to shreds. "He brought my poor son into that room at gunpoint and raped him, and when my late daughter-in-law got suspicious and caught him, he shot her down in cold blood."

"I'll kill him…I'll _kill_ him _myself_…he murdered my best friend…_I'll kill him_…" she wept, and the shadows under her eyes spread down her cheeks. A drop of black dripped onto her bridesmaid's dress.

"I don't deserve to keep you from your revenge. Kiribani lives in apartment 37A on floor 5. I assure you that you will be sufficiently armed and prepared. I am the President, you know."

* * *

Late that night, while most of the Shinra building was sound asleep, Leiza slipped a copy of the card key to apartment 37A into the door lock, and it opened with a click. The apartment was dark and quiet. The lanky platinum blonde woman slipped into the room nonetheless, locking the door and ducking behind the couch to wait for the occupant's return.

After what seemed like forever, the light clicked on, and the voices of not one but two men rang through the air.

"Just pick up what you need. It's dangerous for you to stay here for long," said the first, a smooth tenor voice that Leiza recognized as belonging to her friend's widow.

"…What? Why is he here…and why is he helping him?"

"All I need are some clothes and my toothbrush and that kind of stuff. I really don't have that many things, and most of it's unimportant," said the other voice, which Leiza guessed had to be her target's.

She disengaged the safety on the pistol that the President had given her.

Rufus sat down on the couch to wait for Reno to pack. Leiza noticed that he wasn't wearing his coat and was unarmed.

"You can get something to eat if you want, you know. This is your last chance before we leave and my refrigerator turns into a giant science fair project," Reno said from the hall. Rufus laughed and stood slowly, balancing himself on his good leg before heading onto the small kitchen.

"Your apartment's tiny. You'd think they'd give you something bigger, with your being a Turk and all," said the thin strawberry blonde as he rifled through the junk food.

"Hey, it's better than my old SOLDIER apartment. I shared that one with three other guys, and we all slept in bunks. Not everyone has a mini-mansion like yours, you know." Reno finished packing the few things that he wanted to take, stepping back into the main room.

Leiza saw her chance, standing from behind the couch and aiming the gun at Reno. She tried to keep from showing it as her hands shook. Reno dropped his bag.

"Hey, hey, hey, lady! What's the big deal?" Reno asked, laughing nervously and putting his hands up next to his head.

"You…you…Malita's dead because of you…"

Rufus heard, and he stood quickly, wincing from a sudden pain in his leg. He limped over to the counter and scanned his eyes over the objects laying on top of it, finally settling on one and picking it up.

"You killed her…" Leiza continued, and her hands shook even harder. Reno could see that she had never handled a gun before, but also knew that even that probably wouldn't stop her from firing and killing him, especially not at such close range.

Leiza heard a sound from behind her and she turned quickly, feeling a sharp pain as the cold metal of a steak knife pierced the soft flesh just under her ribs. Her eyes widened and locked with the cold blue of the Vice President's.

Rufus pulled the knife from her chest, and she fell forward and held herself up on his shoulder. The blonde eased the gun out of her lax hand.

"You picked the wrong path, siding with my father, and this is your reward," Rufus' whispered into her ear. He sidestepped, and Leiza breathed her last shaky breath, toppling lifelessly onto the floor, the blood that had begun to fill her lungs pooling from her mouth onto the carpet.

Rufus threw the gun and knife onto the couch, stooping down to the body and picking it up by the hair. "Go to my apartment and wait," he said to Reno without looking up. "I have something to discuss with my father about sending innocent women to their deaths."

Reno stared at Rufus, wide-eyed, for a moment before picking up his bag and rushing out.

Blood streamed down Rufus' arm as he grabbed the body more firmly and slung it over his shoulder. He ignored his throbbing leg and half-limped to the elevator, then to his father's doorstep.

The young blonde tried the door handle in vain. _'Locked, of course. Father always was paranoid,' _he thought to himself.

So, he knocked. He waited for a moment, hearing nothing coming from within the room, before knocking again, but harder.

"Who are you and what do you want?" came the voice of President Shinra from just past the door.

"A word, Father?"

"_Boy_, what are you doing awake at this time of night?"

"A word, Father?" Rufus repeated.

The lock clicked and the door swung open. Shinra stared at his son, who had blood running down his arm and the body of the vengeful hitwoman over his shoulder. The cold blue eyes of Rufus Shinra gleamed back at him, as icy as ever.

"Step back into the room," Rufus sneered. "I need to talk to you in _private_."

Shinra stepped out of the doorway as his son passed, and he locked the room's entrance after the younger man and his cargo had crossed through it. He moved to flick on the light, but his son stopped him.

"Leave it off," Rufus said. "I don't want to have to look at you."

"What is this about, Rufus?"

"You know damn well what this is about. What did you tell the woman?"

"I told her the truth. I told her that you and that filthy Turk laid down together."

"You sent her to kill him. You should have known that she would fail."

"You killed her, didn't you, Rufus?"

"Yes, Father"

"Then the filthy Turk is still alive."

"Yes, Father."

"And you came here to taunt me, didn't you?"

"Exactly, Father."

"There will be others, Rufus."

"I know, Father."

"That's _Sir_ to you, you dirty little heathen."

Rufus only laughed.

"If you weren't such an insolent little wretch, I wouldn't have had to kill your mother, do you know that? You are the reason that your dear _Mommy_ is dead. You are the reason that the woman on your shoulder is dead. You can't keep a woman alive to save your own skin. Maybe that's why you had to settle with a nasty little Turk."

"Leave my mother out of this," Rufus hissed.

"Your little scolding isn't affecting me, Rufus. Go off and cry in your boyfriend's lap, and tell him how you killed your mother."

Rufus lifted Leiza's corpse from his shoulder and dropped it to the ground, letting the blood stain the clean, white carpet.

"Oops. Sorry about that, _Father_. I didn't mean to add another spot to your pretty carpeting. Of course, I think it goes quite nicely with the others, don't you?"

Rufus stepped down on Leiza's skull, crushing it with a sickening crunch. He wiped his boot on the carpet.

The father watched as Rufus shadow glared at him out of those ever-present ice-eyes, which glistened slightly in the dull lighting from the mako-reflecting smog outside of the window.

"Just a little reminder of how you took just as much part in killing her as I did. Just a little reminder of how you gave the order, and how you shot your wife through the eyes of another man…how you stabbed this woman through the eyes of your son…of how you kill with your words alone. Goodnight, Father."

And Rufus walked out. The father noticed his son's slight limp and smiled.

* * *

Reno looked up as the door to Rufus' apartment opened and the blonde stepped in, pushing the hair out of his eyes tiredly. Rufus strode over to Reno and touched his jaw, leaning in toward him. Reno turned away and spoke softly:

"What was that," he asked, "back in my apartment?"

"That was me saving your ass," was Rufus' reply.

"That was you killing a woman in cold blood."

"She would have done the same to you."

"She didn't even know what she was doing," said the redhead. "You probably could have talked her out of it."

"You can't deter a person who's looking for revenge, Reno. Every minute I tried would have been a minute closer to your getting shot."

"But you could have done something else, couldn't you? She was inexperienced. You could have taken the gun away."

"This is coming from a man who kills people just because of an order and a paycheck? You, who murders just because its your job tells me that I could have saved a woman if I had just done something differently, although it would have put your life on the line?"

Reno looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling like a monster.

"I'm a bit disappointed, Reno."

"You're right."

"No. I'm surprised you didn't find the error in my logic."

"What? But…you're right…" he repeated more quietly.

"It's easy to sound like a hero if you use the right words." Rufus said, expressionless. "But, remember, Reno, that I'm one of the men who gives you those orders. There are no heroes in this world. Keep that in mind."

And he stepped past the redhead, stopping in the threshold of his bedroom.

"Well, enjoy the couch, since I'm sure you don't want my company tonight," the blonde continued, steeping fully into the room and closing the door behind him.

Reno stared at where Rufus had been for a moment before walking up to the door, opening it, and stepping inside.

Rufus laughed and scooted to one side of the mattress.

* * *

Miya's Note: Uhh…this chapter is my strangest one yet, I have to say. (I like it, though. So weird!) Sorry about Rufus' little corpse-abuse escapade. I hope I didn't gross anybody out. Of course, if you've made it this far, you probably have a pretty hardy stomach. Parts of this one are going to tie into the next chapter, which will be titled "Remembrance", just as a heads-up.


	13. Remembrance

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 13: Remembrance

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Oh, goody! This chapter for the most part goes back to the story's earlier tone! Though there are serious parts some portions are very silly, and the chapter in general has a lighter tone than the last few have. The whole chapter revolves around a midnight conversation between Reno and Rufus, and I'm sure you know how those can get. When your brain's not functioning properly, you say some silly things.

The most ironic thing about this chapter is that it's the only one that was written in broad daylight. The rest were done in the middle of the night!

Sorry, reviewers, but my little tradition for this fic of replying to all of my reviewers has to stop. These little intros are getting too drawn out with all of the replies. Don't worry. I'll still answer questions and the like, but I won't be replying to EVERYONE's reviews.

* * *

"Rufus," Reno whispered to the blonde's back on the bed beside him.

Rufus' back didn't respond.

"_Rufus_," Reno whispered more harshly.

Rufus grunted, and his hand waved dismissively at the redhead.

"Rufus, I can't sleep."

"Do you have to take it out on me?" groaned the blonde, pulling the sheet over his head.

"But I'm bored, and I wanted to talk to you."

Without flipping over, Rufus reached back out of the covers and smacked Reno in the face.

"**_Hey_**, listen, Rufus. I've been thinking, and there's some stuff I want to talk to you about."

"Can't it wait 'til morning?"

Reno went silent. There was a moment of stillness before Rufus flipped over with a grunt.

"_What do you want_?" asked the blonde with an impatient sigh.

"…Nothing. It's not that important."

"Reno, don't piss me off any more. I'm already awake. Just tell me."

"I just thought you should know about my past," Reno said, sitting up and resting back against the Vice President's headboard.

"What brought _that_ up?"

"I dunno. I was just thinking a lot, and I guess it's because you've told me some stuff and you don't know anything about me."

Rufus sat up and looked intently (albeit a bit annoyedly) at the redhead. "…Alright then. I'm listening."

"I really don't remember my parents," the Turk started. "I was still a kid when my mom O.D.d on something. I don't know what it was. I was too little. I just remember finding the empty bottle that she had dropped."

"Then we both lost our mothers."

"Yeah, but my dad didn't stay either. He committed suicide a little after my mom died."

"So, you were an orphan."

Reno nodded. "I took the little money my parents left behind and tried to escape from the slums."

"What sector did you live in?"

"Sector 7."

Rufus' voice became very quiet. "What's it like down there?"

"Just like it is on the plate, but dirtier. I fount that out when I got out of there. Imagine my surprise when I realized that, even though the houses are nicer and the air's a little cleaner, the people are exactly the same. That's why I wasn't all that disappointed when they caught me and threw me back in the slums."

Rufus leaned back against the headboard, and the green mako light from outside highlighted his features, which were arranged into an expression of remarkable empathy--a very rare sight, indeed.

"I joined a gang of teenage hackers," Reno continued. "Even though they were older than me, I picked up on computers fast and was the first to learn how to break into Slum Security. We dreamed, just like everyone else, of making it into Soldier, so we took fake names (which is when I became Reno) and made fake I.D.s that we used to sneak up in the train and get into the Shinra building. I was the only one who didn't get caught. The rest were killed. I saw it."

Rufus nodded solemnly. "What was your real name?"

"Zelig Morrison."

"Zelig?"

"Yeah, but that name doesn't really mean anything to me. I'm Reno Kiribani now."

"So you went from having an interesting, unusual name to one that sounds like something a stripper would use?"

The green mako light showed Reno as he glared at Rufus.

"So, you got into SOLDIER after escaping from the slums?" asked the blonde.

"Yeah."

"You must really trust me to tell me information that could get you killed."

"I do."

"I don't know whether to be flattered or to call you an idiot."

"Hey, you did all that crap to save me before, so I don't think I have to worry about you getting me killed."

"Point." Rufus smirked. "Or, I could just be weird like that." The smirk turned mischievous.

"Stop it! You get creepy when you do that," Reno hissed. "You always do something strange when you get that look."

"Oh, I _do_, do I?"

"Yeah, like kiss me in front of your father."

The blonde laughed. "You're learning, my favorite little stripper-Turk," he said, scooting up very close to Reno, until their lips were almost touching and Rufus' breath mingled with the redhead's.

To Reno, it was intoxicating.

That is, it was intoxicating until Rufus suddenly pulled away. Reno leaned forward and whispered, "Why are you playing like this?"

"You know how I love my little games."

"Yeah, but that's just _wrong_."

Rufus grinned that familiar, impish, toothy grin before he straddled Reno's hips and ran his fingernails over the redhead's chest. Reno let out a long, quivering breath.

"My father always hated me, you know," Rufus said suddenly, his fingertips still running over Reno's skin.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know. I just thought that, now that you've told my your life story, you should know mine. Keeps me from having an unfair advantage, and I'm sure you don't want that."

"You seem to have a bit of an advantage right now. Can't you finish what you started first?"

"I'm punishing you for waking me up."

"I should have known." Reno shivered from head to foot as Rufus ran a hand through his red hair. "Go on with your story, and hurry. I don't know how long I can take this, even if my boyfriend _is_ a drama-queen," he taunted.

Rufus stopped suddenly, ignoring the drama-queen comment and taking the opportunity to counter. "Boyfriend? Who said I'm your boyfriend?"

"I think it's pretty much implied."

"You're not my boyfriend, Reno. I can't go around having relationships with my employees. You're my man-slave."

"I am not your man-slave."

"Whatever you say. Anyway I was…"

"Oh _yes_, Rufus, **_yes_**!" Reno butted in suddenly, prompting an icy glare from the blonde.

"Quiet, Man-Slave!"

"Yes, Drama-Queen…" Reno returned meekly.

Rufus chuckled, and went back to his previous pursuits. "I was born prematurely, so I was very small and very sickly. It was a big surprise when I lived through it, but the doctor was very qualified, and I somehow managed to pull through. My mother was ecstatic, but my father wasn't happy at all. After all, a weak heir is a worthless heir."

"That's harsh."

"Well, to make the most of it, my father figured that, maybe, just maybe he could turn me into a weak, tiny, obedient pawn of a son."

"That didn't work out."

"For a long time, it did. When you're two feet tall and the skinniest thing to ever walk on two legs and your giant of a father tells you to do something, you do it."

"What did he do if you didn't?"

"He beat me, just like he does today--although it hurt more back then--and he locked me in my room without food for days at a time."

Reno grimaced. Every time he heard something about the President, he learned to hate him more.

"One of the ways that he kept me in check was to eliminate all personal and intimate things from my life. He forced me to call him 'Sir' and my mother 'Ma'am'. I didn't even know there were any other names for them, he had me trained so well."

"What was she like?"

"Hm?"

"Your mother, I mean."

"I don't really know for sure. I never truly had too much of a relationship with her, although, back then, I thought the world of her, since she was nicer to me than my father. She didn't approve of what he was doing to me. She never liked him. I fact, I think you could say she hated him. While my father was away on a business trip, she told me lots of things, like how I was born and how father bought her from the club where she danced because he thought that she'd make a 'suitable' child-bearer. She also told me that her stage name was Virginia and that she couldn't remember what her real name was."

"Your mother was an exotic dancer?"

Rufus just nodded. "That's the same time she told me that there were other things to call parents besides 'Sir' and 'Ma'am'. Can you believe that? For the first eight years of my life, my mother was 'Ma'am' to me. When she told me to start calling he 'Mother', it threw me off, especially since she said to only do it when my father wasn't around. I didn't understand, really. The fact that your father's trying to turn you into a mindless puppet isn't something an eight-year-old can really fathom."

"When I got a little older, I started to purposely replace 'Sir' with 'Father'. He didn't like that, and the beatings got worse. That's when I realized that I didn't care. I didn't want to be his pawn anymore. I started doing other little things; anything to make him angry. I just wanted to make him pay for being such an asshole to me and to Mother. What I didn't realize was that Mother would be the one to really pay for my being such an 'ungrateful, useless whelp'. Father demanded her to either 'fix me' or give him a new son. I didn't realize that I was hurting her. She pleaded for me to stop, but I had gained too much momentum and I couldn't. She couldn't get pregnant again after what my birth did to her, and he blamed her for my insubordination and for the fact that I never had a brother."

Reno gaped. "And I thought I had a screwed-up childhood."

Rufus shrugged haphazardly.

"And…that's when he had her killed?" Reno asked slowly.

"Yes."

Thinking it'd be better to change subjects slightly, judging by Rufus' increasingly angered expression, the redhead asked, "What did you used to do, like when you were locked in your room?"

"I just found ways to spend my time: little things to keep me from paying attention to the hunger and the boredom."

"Like what?"

"Well, my mother used to slip me pencils and paper, so I'd sit in there and sketch."

"Were you any good?"

"Not really, but it kept me occupied." Rufus traced one finger over Reno's facial features. "I sing better than I draw."

"_You_ sing?"

"Is that funny or something?"

"No, it's just…a little unexpected." Reno paused and gave the blonde a quizzical look. "And exactly what kind of music do you sing?" Reno tried to imagine Rufus singing heavy metal.

"Classical types and opera." Rufus raised one eyebrow. "What did you think?"

"…Nothing. Nothing at all." Reno's face brightened. "Can I hear you sing?"

"Rufus just stared before replying with a simple "No."

The redhead looked as if he had melted. "Why not?"

"Because I don't sing in front of other people."

"Not even me?"

"Nobody."

"Why not?"

"I just don't sing in front of others."

"Hey, I'll sing for you, and I _can't_ sing!"

"Oh, please don't."

Reno looked dejected.

Rufus was thoughtful for a moment. "Just wondering; what kind of music do you attempt to sing?" Rufus tried to imagine Reno singing opera.

"Heavy metal. What else?" The redhead grinned widely.

"That's not singing. That's screaming with rhythm. Hell, sometimes the rhythm isn't even there."

"Then do better, Opera-man"

"It's not going to work, Reno."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying."

"Why do you want to hear me sing so much?"

"I'm curious."

Rufus stared for a long while, running his eyes over the redhead with an amused look before finally giving in. "Fine. I guess it can't hurt."

"Wow. I can't believe you gave in so easily. You're usually as stubborn as I am.

"Don't push it, Pet," Rufus growled, reverting back to his earlier mischievous grin and running his fingers even more lightly over Reno's chest.

"Yes, Drama-Queen," Reno purred, sinking back farther into the headboard as Rufus' surprisingly haunting tenor voice filled the air.

"Spirits of the Cetra, I think I've died and gone to the Promised Land," the Turk said as Rufus finished his song.

The blonde chuckled. "I'm really not that good."

"Good enough. Plus, the fact that you're petting me while sitting on my hips doesn't hurt."

"And to think, this was supposed to be your punishment."

"Then this has to be the best punishment I've ever had."

Rufus laughed silently, and, if one looked hard enough, he or she could see him staring hotly at the redhead.

"What song were you singing, anyway? I couldn't understand the words."

"Just something I used to hear my mother sing. When I asked her what it was, she said it was some sacred song, back from my ancestors."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know. I actually don't think it means anything."

Reno moaned lightly in consent, reaching up to mirror Rufus' hands on his own chest.

"As much as I'd like to have more nights like this, though the lack of sleep isn't going to be kind to me in the morning, I want you to leave tomorrow," Rufus said darkly.

"Why?"

"This is going to be the first place my father will expect you to be once he realizes that you're not in your apartment any more. You can't go to Rude or Tseng's apartments either, because those will be the next places he'll check. I want you to get out of the building tomorrow. We can't afford to take any risks."

"I see," stated Reno. "I know a motel that I can stay in cheap down in Sector 7."

"No. You can be tracked if you head into the slums, especially if you take the train."

"I know a lot of back routes."

"It'd be safer and more convenient for you if you stayed on the plate. I'll worry about the money issue. I'll get you a room at the Zolom's Fang in the morning. How safe is your old name? You'll be too easy to track if you use your current one."

"I don't think that anybody even remembers that Mr. Morrison even existed, and those who would are dead."

"Good."

"Rufus, let's make the most of tonight. How does that sound?" the Turk asked in a tone that couldn't have been mistaken as anything other than suggestive.

"Not just yet. I'm having far too much fun toying with you."

"You can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. Do you know that?"

"So can you, but I'm not complaining."

"Rufus, did that statement have a double meaning?"

"You decide. Did it?"

"I think it did."

"Well, then it did." The blonde bared his teeth in the widest, most malicious grin that Reno had ever seen.

"No, Rufus. Don't look at me like that. I'm not your lunch."

Rufus licked his lips (just to make Reno cringe).

Reno cringed.

"You're so _wonderfully_ predictable, Man-slave."

Reno took direct offence to that statement, so, he of course had the sudden urge to prove Rufus wrong, about being predictable _and_ about being a man-slave. He decided that he had to take control.

"I really think you have our roles switched, Drama-queen. I think you're _my_ man-slave, judging by our previous experiences."

"Then why am _I_ the one sitting on _you_?"

"You're just in denial about your role in this relationship."

"Whatever you say, Reno. You just keep thinking that."

Reno grabbed Rufus by the shoulders and flung him forcefully to the bed. He pinned him down and kissed him roughly.

Rufus couldn't help but to laugh into his mouth.

"**_What_**?" Reno asked annoyedly.

"You just proved two things to me."

"And what are those?"

"That you really are my man-slave and that you like it that way."

"How did I prove _that_?"

"Well, you did exactly what I expected you to do, which was to follow my taunts."

"That just proves that you're manipulative."

"I have you trained, Reno, and you know it."

The redhead stayed remarkably silent.

"And, if you didn't like it, you wouldn't have taken that long to switch our positions."

"Damn you, Drama-queen."

"Am I correct?"

"…Yeah. How do you do that?"

"You mean know you so well without even trying?"

"Yes. That."

"It's just one of my specialties. I'm a good judge of character. I always have been. Don't worry. This'll be our dirty little secret."

"I think I can manage that." Reno grinned widely. "You know, our relationship makes no sense."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you. You must be the world's only submissive control freak."

"Probably. It comes with the job, I think. That's okay. Do you know what you are?"

"What am I?"

"You're a trained rebel."

"That makes no sense at all."

"I know. I think it's safe to say that we are both complete contradictions."

"Of course." Reno narrowed his eyes and interjected a small "Rawr" to the figure lying on the bed.

"It's probably a good thing that we're not going to have many of these midnight conversations. We turn into complete idiots," said Rufus. "Oh, wait. You're always like this."

Reno punched him in the shoulder before resigning with a sigh. A battle of wits against Rufus was one he knew he would never win. "Oh well. At least I can say that I'm one of the few people in the world who's slept with the world's most powerful man."

Rufus remained expressionless. "What do you mean, 'people'? There's no 'people' about it."

The Turk did a double-take. "You have to be kidding me."

"No. I'm not," Rufus said, his expression becoming completely serious.

"That's impossible. Don't make me laugh. You're the world's most eligible bachelor."

"You're the only one."

"Holy, fucking shit." Reno paused. "Rufus, how old are you?"

"Twenty-four. Why?"

"_You_ spent over 23 years as a virgin?"

"Yes." Rufus' eyes narrowed menacingly.

"How could anybody do that and stay sane?"

"That's easy. I just think of what my crazy bastard of a father would say if I got some girl pregnant."

"…Oh."

"But I can't get you pregnant, so it's okay."

"So, you're probably never going to sleep with a girl, are you?"

"Probably not."

"So, you're, in some sort of twisted way, gay?"

Rufus just raised one eyebrow.

"Freaky…" Reno shrugged. "Oh well. More for me!"

"You're an idiot."

"You're a masochistic, manipulative, murdering madman. So what?"

"Good use of alliteration."

"_Eh_?"

"That. Was. A. Good. Use. Of. A. Li. Te. Ra. Tion."

"…Okay then."

"Just forget it and _kiss me_, Man-slave."

"I can do that." Reno snaked his hands around Rufus' head and pressed his lips to the blonde's. He stopped after a long while and grinned. "Finally, we can get to the good stuff."

* * *

Miya's Note: Tar-dar! Chapter 13! Oooh…aaaahhhhhhh. Eeeeee. Wow. Wonderful. _Gasp_!

Nothing much to say, except that I hope that it was entertaining and that it explained some…stuff. This actually WAS my longest chapter yet (and all one section, to boot)! Oh, and if you can guess what song Rufus was singing, you get a…something. I dunno what it'll be yet.

Oh, and Zelig is a Germanic name meaning "blessed".


	14. Roles Reversed

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 14: Roles Reversed

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Hello all! I've been doing lots of writing at school, so chapters should start popping up a bit more frequently again, although not nearly as quickly as they did during summer vacation.

Poof. There went the nice, happy mood that was in Chapter 13. It is pretty much demolished by the end of this installment, although there's a really goofy section in the middle where Reno is in desperate need of sleep. That's always fun.

This chapter also has a lot of description in comparison to earlier one, though the conversation is still there, and there will be even less talking next chapter.

One thing that I didn't mention earlier that I should have is that I decided that Rufus had longer hair when he was younger…mostly due to a mistake I made in one of my pictures. Plus, in the Nomura drawing from Before Crisis, Rufus' hair is longer than it was in FF7. Imagine in earlier chapters that he had between chin to shoulder length hair, k?

That changes soon enough, though, as he goes to the Before Crisis chin-length. That should alleviate some confusion in one small section in here.

Since there are some new reviewers, though, I do feel that I need to greet them!

To EternalDarkness2: Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you like my characterization. It's something I'm quite proud of.

To Rosalyn Angel: Wow! That was one of the best reviews that I've gotten so far. You're the first person to comment positively on my dialogue, too, I think!

And yes, the poor doctor. I made it so you didn't know her gender for a few chapters on purpose. :D I'm glad you like my Rufus, too. Most of the people on the site prefer Reno, while most of my friends at school prefer Rufus. I'm a Rufus fan, myself.

To blue daemon: Thanks a bunch! I'm glad you liked the pasts. It took a bit of creative thinking to come up with those.

To Sqiferfan: Thanks. It's really nice to see how many Runo (I'm still calling it that, but thanks for the info!) fans there are out there. I was surprised (and still am) at how many fans I've drawn together with this fic!

To Aisu-Hime: You and Uwe with the whole crack thing. I swear. .- By-the-by, who is Chantzy? (OY! Second Class performance this Monday! AAAH! That play is so…different! It's kind of fun, though, doing a thrust stage for a change, though, right?)

* * *

A few heads turned as a skinny redhead who looked far taller than he really was stepped into the main lobby of the Zolom's Fang. He was wearing new blue jeans and a white shirt that was only partially buttoned up. He shoulders swayed as he walked in a memorable sort of swagger as his hands, which were tucked into his pockets, moved in tiny circles with the natural slight twisting of his hips. He pulled out a cigarette, thought about lighting it before looking blankly at the "No Smoking" sign clearly posted in large, red letters above the main desk and putting it back into the pack in his pocket.

He put down his black duffel bag with a "thunk" before ringing the small bell on the desk.

"Yes?" politely asked the attendant, a petite, black-haired woman.

"I already have a reservation," stated the man a bit abruptly.

"Name?" the attendant inquired without skipping a beat.

"Zelig Morrison," replied Reno, staying calm despite his lie.

"Ah, yes." The small woman pulled a thin, plain envelope from under the desk. "Here's your key and a letter from the man who reserved the room for you."

"Thanks."

Reno took it and left the front desk in search of his temporary home. When he found the room, he ripped open the envelope, which had his old name scrawled out on it in an neat, unfamiliar handwriting which he guessed belonged to the attendant, and slipped the card key into the door.

The room was a standard, simply furnished Plate hotel room. Reno had been in many of these during his life, especially before he had gotten into SOLDIER.

After all, unlike in the slums, one couldn't just squat down in the nearest dry alleyway for the night without attracting some negative attention.

This, he knew from personal experience.

Reno plopped down on the end of the bed and pulled the letter from the envelope. It was only one page, and surprised Reno with Rufus' very disguised handwriting that neither resembled his own nor that on the envelope and with its impersonality and unusually improper language.

Zelig,

There is a plan. I'll bee there in a little bit to tell you. I already reserved a room down the hall from yours for myself. When the Pres. shows up, he won't know what hit him.

R.K.

R.K.? Reno was extremely puzzled. Why would Rufus sign a letter with _his_ initials? Was this part of his "plan"?

"He must have a pretty complicated plan," Reno said aloud to nobody in particular before laying back and getting some much needed sleep.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Sir. Do you have a reservation?" asked the attendant to the blonde man at the counter.

The blonde man nodded affirmative.

"What's your name?"

"Reno Kiribani." The man was tall and wearing black pants and a loose-fitting white t-shirt. The attendant was a little disturbed by the fact that she couldn't see his eyes behind a pair of dark-tinted goggles.

Though she didn't know that seeing his cold, blue eyes would have been even more disconcerting.

His chin-length razor-cut hair shook slightly as he spoke, and he brushed a piece of it off of his nose, somehow managing to make the gesture businesslike, despite its simplicity and his casual dress.

"Here is your key and a letter from the man who reserved your room," said the attendant, repeating the words she had earlier used to the real Reno, pulling a nearly identical envelope to the one she had given the redhead from below the desk.

Rufus took the envelope casually and strode out of the lobby and to his room with what the attendant noticed was a peculiar kind of grace and moved to his room, ripping the paper of the envelope with one skinny finger and pulling out the card key. He slipped it into the door lock, and, without ever stepping into the room, threw his bag through the entrance and let the room close with a click.

There was no need for him to read the letter, as he had been the one to write it. He had taken great care to reveal just enough to arouse suspicions, as he knew that the message would be read (in accordance with Midgar policy that had been initiated by his father) and it would help him in his plan for the attendant to know some small key information.

He walked down the hall, stopping a few doors down and knocking on the door. It took a couple of minutes before a voice inside replied.

"Whaddayawan?" came the groaning, irritated voice of the true Reno Kiribani.

"Open the door," was the answer.

"Drama-queen? Izzat yoo?"

"Yes. Open the door."

Rufus could hear a shuffling from past the door before it opened to reveal the redhead behind it, his eyes drooping with lethargy. Rufus pushed past the other man, who was leaning against the doorframe, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Now I understand," Rufus said, looking Reno over from under the goggles.

"Eh? Whaddaya unnerstahd?" Reno slurred sleepily.

"Now I get why your clothes are always crumpled up like you slept in them." Rufus paused. "It's because you…slept in them."

"Funny," the Turk said sarcastically, closing the door and stumbling over to the bed, cracking his eyes a little more, just enough to see the blonde. "You cut your hair," he stated, seeming to wake up a little bit in his lover's presence as he sat on the bed beside him.

"Yes. I was too easy to recognize. Plus, I needed a change."

"Damn. Now, if I take you to a bar or something and somebody asks who you are, I can't just, like, tell them that you're my flat-chested girlfriend."

"Good one," Rufus said dryly, punching the redhead in the arm.

"I thought so. Why the sunglasses?"

"They're goggles, and they're yours." Rufus took them off and handed them to the redhead, who turned them around in his hands. "I needed to cover my eyes for a bit, since they're a bit…shall we say, memorable, and I figured that, since you broke your sunglasses on my desk, I should get you a replacement. And these won't fall off of your big head."

"You didn't have to do that for me. I would have just bought new sunglasses anyway."

"Reno, I'm the planet's second most wealthy man. My treat."

"Point taken." Reno laid back on the bed. "I need more sleep."

"You need to learn how to function without it," Rufus said with a slight tilt of his head. "The Turks have been known to go on mission that last for weeks with little to no sleep."

"Oh, yeah. I'm one of those, aren't I?"

"Yes, Reno. You're a Turk."

"Ugh." He grabbed a pillow and threw it over his face. "How the hell do you do it Rufus?" he asked, muffled slightly. "You went to sleep after I did."

"I have years of practice…and caffeine."

Reno groaned in response.

"It's your own damn fault. You're the one who woke me up for quality conversation time."

Reno groaned again.

"Fine, I'll let you go to sleep. I was going to tell you the plan, but I guess that all you need to know is that now you're Reno again, not Zelig, and you're staying in room 28, so don't let anybody see you leave this room."

"I'm me in room 28. Got it."

"And I'm Zelig Morrison and am staying in room 24."

"Right. You're old me in room here."

"Good night, Reno."

"Night, old me in room 24."

And Reno was asleep, the pillow still over his head and his legs hanging off of the end of the bed, before Rufus had gotten out of the room.

* * *

"Zolom's Fang, how may I help you?" asked the same attendant that had checked Reno and Rufus into the hotel just days before as she picked up the phone and held it to her ear with her shoulder.

"I need to know if you have a Reno Kiribani in your registers."

"Who is this?"

"This is the President."

"Of what, Sir?"

"Of Shinra Electric Power Company"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I need verification of your identity."

"The SOLDIERs standing outside of the building should be verification enough."

"Sir, I am sorry, but that's not going to work. I'm not that gullible."

As if one cue from the other side of the line, about ten fully armed SOLDIERs First Class streamed into the room.

"I assure you. I have other ways of accessing the registry if you won't tell me."

"My apologies Sir," replied the attendant, a shaking in her voice as the gun of one SOLDIER swung around the room, pointed at her for a split second.

"I ask again. Is there a Reno Kiribani in your registry?"

The attendant scoured the electronic books for a moment before replying. "Room 28. He was registered at 5:25 two mornings ago."

"Excellent. Was there anybody that registered with him?"

"There was a very shady-looking blonde man who registered and came in just a couple of hours after he did. There was a letter addressed to him from the other man. I think they were trying not to be found out."

"What was the blonde's name?"

"Let me check." The only sound that went over the line for a long while was that of a clicking keyboard. "Zelig Morrison, Sir."

A laugh could be heard from the President's end. "So, he had the nerve to take another name…"

* * *

After about an hour of intense silence, the SOLDIERs finally left the Zolom's Fang lobby as a large man in red stepped through the doors.

"Is this him? Is this the man named Reno Kiribani?" asked the President forcefully, holding up a company photograph of the Turk.

"Yes, Sir. This is the man who came in earlier."

Two floors up, a tall strawberry blonde man leaned over the railing and smiled briefly and confidently before stepping back into his room.

* * *

The door to room 28 burst open from a hard kick from one SOLDIER. The small platoon of troops stepped out of the way as the President walked into the room, his gun pointed at the head of Reno Kiribani.

But Reno Kiribani, also known as Zelig Morrison, and more commonly as Rufus Shinra stared calmly down the barrel of the gun, his feet propped up on a table and a glass of vodka swirling lazily in his right hand.

"Must you always be so brash, Father?"

"Where is he, boy?"

"That was a stupid question." Rufus took a sip of his drink. "How'd I know that you would fall for my little scheme?"

The President responded by firing a shot through the glass and Rufus' hand.

To watch the younger blonde look lazily at his hand without even flinching sent an involuntary shiver down the father's spine. Rufus' face formed itself into a bored, impatient frown.

"So violent. _Always_ resorting to violence." The Vice President stood, shaking blood, alcohol, and glass from his hand. "I'm going to have trouble doing your paperwork for you, you know, with a hole through my hand."

"What is wrong with you, boy?" Shinra asked, unable to keep himself from stepping backwards as Rufus moved closer to him. "You're not even _human_, boy. You're just another one of the monsters, the way you always insist on going on, no matter how much closer it brings you to death."

Rufus struck like a snake, his bloodied hand closing around the thick throat of his father, the long, thin fingers shaking slightly from the pain of injury. "How else could I _survive_? Not allowed to live, I had to settle with mere _existence_." The young blonde's teeth ground together as his whole arm pulsed with agony. "This was your biggest mistake, Father, creating a monster that you _weren't prepared to face_."

The sound of seven disengaging safeties broke the silence that followed.

The grip on the President's throat only tightened. A few streams of new blood began to flow from where surprisingly sharp fingernails pierced through flesh like claws.

"I'll rip your fucking throat out, you bastard, even if it kills me," growled the beast.

But he couldn't do it, as three shots ripped into his body.

The President caught his breath as Rufus fell. "Stop firing!" he yelled to the soldiers. "I will deal with the boy on my own terms. Leave now."

Rufus collapsed fully to the floor. "You're a pathetic excuse for a man, Father," he said, his voice growing faint.

"Shut up, you monstrous whelp!" Shinra hissed, kicking his son in the gut.

Rufus let out a tortured screech as the kick sent a nearly unbearable pang of anguish throughout his body.

"Do you feel it now, _Son_? Do you feel the pain telling you I'm the one with the power here?"

Rufus took those words as a personal challenge, pushing himself to a sitting position, then onto his knees. Though it was a struggle, he finally managed to stand. He stumbled toward his father, his cold eyes glistening like caves of ice.

"I told you, **_boy_**. I'm the one with the power here." He fired another shot into Rufus' stomach, and the blonde collapsed once again with a shriek.

* * *

Reno leaned with his back against his door, biting his lip and wincing as he hear the sound of another shot, followed closely by a muffled scream.

The scream was Rufus'.

He was dead. Rufus was dead. He knew it was true, and that there was nothing he could do about it.

And the last thing that Reno had said to the blonde he couldn't even remember because he was half-asleep at the time.

There was nothing he could have done. Shinra had brought a troop of armed SOLDIERs with him who wouldn't hesitate to shoot him on sight.

But the guilt nonetheless managed to consume him. Perhaps there was something he could have done, after all? Wouldn't Rufus have tried everything in his power to save _him_ if their positions had been switched?

But it was no matter anymore.

Rufus had died for him.

Rufus was gone.

Biting down hard on his lip, Reno opened the door and looked out, knowing that he would probably forget it. After all, if he were caught, wouldn't that make Rufus' sacrifice in vain?

But there were no SOLDIERs. No President. No Rufus. Just a maid steam-cleaning the floor in room 28.

He walked down the hall and stared into the room where members of the cleaning staff scoured the blood, the vodka, and the glass from around the room.

Reno stood there and watched silently the whole time, and, by the time it was done, it was as if nothing had ever occurred there.

* * *

"I don't know if I can salvage him this time, _Sir_," hissed an older, sickly-looking man with long, stringy black hair, who adjusted his glasses on his nose in a strangely disconcerting fashion.

"You had better, Hojo, or it'll be on _your_ head. And he'd better not come out stronger again, because he's enough of a problem already," said the President impatiently, lighting a cigar, which Hojo snatched from his mouth and put out on the table, never losing eye contact with the larger man.

"No smoking in the lab. This is a controlled environment, and a new variable could have adverse effects on my experiments."

And though the President could have easily broken Hojo's back for that (which he had already done once, giving the scientist a stoop to his step--it had only paralyzed him for a week before he had figured out how to repair most of the damage) he just stood in front of the man, steaming angrily.

Because nobody ever did anything to Hojo and got away with it unscathed.

"If you want me to keep the boy alive," Hojo snarled vehemently, "it's going to take a lot of Mako, and if I siphon Mako into him, it's going to make him stronger. If you want him to be weak, then _stop trying to kill him, and then regretting it_. I thought that I told you that the last time. What did you get? A son who can shoot a shotgun one-armed. Maybe this time, I should make him strong enough for a rocket launcher." Hojo paused for a long while, taking off his glasses and contemplating the possibilities, forming his mouth into a thin, wide smile. "Although, there is something that I could try, _if_ you give me the order, but it'll be highly risky and very experimental." The last word came out with almost a manic joy, and the eyes of the scientist seemed to have a fire lit behind them.

"Just do it, you fucking madman, and do it quick."

"That's Mr. Fucking Mad Scientist to you, _Sir._" Hojo paused, the grin widening, white teeth showing through the gap between the thin lips. "I'll get right to it. You know how I _love_ a new experiment."

* * *

"Reno, where the hell have you been?" Tseng asked annoyedly in the Shinra H.Q. lobby.

"Sorry, Boss. Been at the Zolom's Fang, staying alive."

"Shinra still after your head?" asked the black-haired Turk leader, softening slightly.

"Yeah, but I think that may have changed, though I'm not sure."

"How'd you afford a room at the Zolom's Fang. You're paycheck's not that high yet."

"Rufus. He paid for it."

"Why are you back? Did Shinra give up on you already?"

"No. My source of money's gone."

"What happened between you two?"

"Nothing. Rufus is dead." Reno was expressionless. "Do you think Shinra'll still try to kill me, now that I can't sleep with his _dead_ son?"

"I…don't know."

"He was shot. Five times. I didn't see it, but I could still hear it from my room. There was a scream after the last one, and then he went silent."

"Are you sure he's dead?"

"It was Shinra and a troop of SOLDIERs. From what I understand, Shinra'd been wanting to kill him for years and had been coming closer to doing it every day. I guess he finally did."

"So that's it, then? The Vice President is dead now? The Shinra legacy will end the moment the President dies?"

"If I get the chance, I'll make sure it ends soon."

"I know you're angry, Reno, but you can't go risking your life like that."

"But if I kill his father, he'll be able to rest. We'll both have our vengeance."

The large screen behind the two Turks flickered to life, as if answering a cue, and an important notice flashed across it.

"Special Notice: After being attacked at the Zolom's Fang Hotel, Vice President Rufus Shinra has reportedly disappeared from the face of the planet. His father, the honorable President of this great company, had this to say:"

"Shut up!" Reno screamed at the screen, as Shinra made a series of false statements about his son.

"…possibly assassinated, judging by the Junon attempt…"

"You killed him, you son of a bitch!"

"…but no body was found, so I retain hope that my son is still alive, and will show up unharmed…"

Tseng had to restrain Reno as the redhead lunged at the screen, but the subordinate managed to grab his electro-mag rod and fling it at the enlarged projection of Shinra's head.

The screen blacked out as the mag-rod lodged itself between the President's eyes.

Reno broke free from Tseng's grasp, pulling his weapon from the screen by its lightning-proof handle and storming off to Rude's room.

"Yes, this is Tseng," said the Turk leader through an intercom on the wall. "I need somebody down in the lobby for cleanup and repairs on a tele-screen."

* * *

Miya's Note: YAY! Sorry it took so long for me to get this up here! I've had this chapter written for almost a week (or maybe even more), but hadn't gotten the chance to type it up until now. Ch. 15's already finished, so that one should be up FAIRLY soon, if we're lucky. I do have quite a bit of homework this weekend, so I don't know for sure.

Prepare for more Hojo! The next Chapter name: The Million Gil Macabre.

Oh, and I can't wait until I write Ch. 16! I've had the idea for it since the end of writing this one. It's going to be called "Sensuality", though the word'll have a slightly different meaning than you probably think. It's already my favorite chapter, and I haven't even written it yet!

One interesting thing that I found out while writing this chapter was that the word "blonde" is only used for females, and that I should have been calling Rufus the "blond" the whole time.

But guess what...I'm still calling him a "blonde", whether it's right or not (it just adds to his innate femininity)! He's everyone's favorite blonde widow! XD

Oh, and another big mistake that I made in a couple of the earlier chapters was the use of the word "venerable" (meaning "to be revered") in place of "vulnerable" (meaning weak, prone, and powerless). Oopsies. Just overlook that.


	15. The Million Gil Macabre

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 15: The Million Gil Macabre

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Well, here it is: Chapter 15! cue canned applause This is probably one of the strangest, darkest, most twisted chapters yet, but what can you expect with HOJO?

Say no to drugs, children. Say no to drugs.

Chapter 16 is coming pretty soon, too. I'm so excited! :D

To TwistedGoth: Hello! I'm glad you read. It makes me feel all warm an fuzzy inside to see the kind of response you and the others are giving me! So, you like Hojo, huh? (Me too. He's such an evil bastage!)

* * *

"How does it feel to stare into the face of death once more," Hojo asked aloud to Rufus' comatose form. "But who will be the one to back down this time, you or him?"

The Professor peeled the bloody shirt from the lithe, still frame of the man on the table, and threw it into the trash. "You are a very special specimen, you know," he said, without even looking at the blonde as he spoke. He pulled a rag from a large metal cabinet and wet it, scrubbing both new and dry blood from the other man's chest. "And that's why none of my assistants are here today. I'm not about to share my findings with them."

"You see, you've had Mako treatments before, so I know you can handle that." Hojo pulled leather straps over Rufus' body, tightening them as much as his own strength would allow. "But, what do you think would happen if we took the process a little farther, and then reversed it?"

"I've been doing studies on the effects of injecting very high levels of Mako--on monsters, not humans, of course, but that's what you're here for--and causing intentional Mako poisoning. The results have been very interesting, you see."

Hojo pulled two clear tubes from the cabinet, attaching a sharp metal end cap onto one end of each. The other ends he fastened into a bizarre-looking contraption that was hooked into the ground.

The end caps he forced into the visible veins on the inside of Rufus' elbows, clamping them into place. "This is going to hurt a little, I'm afraid," stated the Professor casually, turning to the contraption--a Mako filter--and opening the small valve that released the lifeblood of the planet to mix with that of Rufus.

The purpose of the leather straps became quickly obvious as Rufus' let out a massive, ear-splitting screech as his teeth bared like those of a wild animal, his eyes bursting open blindly, glowing brightly with the Mako behind them; his entire body convulsing erratically from the poison that would save him.

It seemed like eternities had past before the convulsions stopped, replaced with only the occasional small shudder, and Rufus went limp, his eyes and mouth still opened wide as if he were dead. Hojo quickly closed the valve.

"I'm impressed," said Hojo, closing Rufus' eyelids so that the blonde would not be blinded from the dry laboratory air. "Most people wouldn't have taken that much before it became toxic to them. You really have become stronger, haven't you? I wonder what it's like. I would try it, but I don't trust anybody else with bringing me back. Shame. I would like to see what you are seeing first-hand."

Rufus' breathing was shallow.

Hojo pulled the tubes from the Vice President's arms, and the blonde stayed eerily still, the only evidence of life, the slow, unsteady rising and falling of his chest.

"There are advantages to having you in this condition, although you're not very good conversation in this state. It's much easier to take readings from an incapacitated subject." The scientist adjusted his glasses on the brim of his nose as he picked up a clipboard and a pen from one counter, clipping a stack of papers into it, on which he began to take quick, sketchy notes. The scratching of his pen was the only sound.

"Already an improvement to the shot wounds," Hojo said aloud as he scrawled out his observations, shattering the almost-silence like a thin pane of glass. "Already the bullets seem to be dissolving." The Professor stopped writing, and the cornet of his mouth upturned slightly as he explained the logistics of the procedure to Rufus, though the blonde was incapable of hearing it. "That's the wonderful thing about Mako, don't you see? It identifies the malignant source and destroys it, improving the tissue around it. But, when you have too much, that's when you begin to become its target. It gets confused, if you will, between friend and foe."

"I'll have to watch you closely. Once the Mako heals your injuries, _you_ will begin to degrade at an alarming rate. That's when I'll have to start taking it back out, since I can't have you dying on my. There's no better way to ruin a good experiment than to kill the specimen. But excuse me if it doesn't work out quite as planned. I've put Mako in before, but I've never successfully taken it out. It probably wouldn't kill you to leave it in if you were in good health to start with, but you're not, and if I don't lower the levels of the stuff in your bloodstream, you'll most likely end up a pile of dust in my laboratory."

"I'm still a little unsure of how I'm going to go about this. The only way I can see is to draw some of your blood and filter the Mako from it outside of your body. Unless…"

Hojo's face seemed to almost light up with a sudden burst of fanatical joy.

"Perhaps I've been thinking along the wrong lines. Maybe I shouldn't try to remove the Mako. There are other ways. The Lifestream has its enemies." He stooped over a drawer, opening it to reveal a few needles containing a strangely glowing fluid. While the Mako shimmered with a lively green, this new substance emanated altering blue, purple, and pink, as if the liquid inside were alive and constantly changing structure. "One needle should be enough. The cells are more potent than the Mako is."

Hojo jabbed the needle into Rufus' jugular, and a war began in the test subject's bloodstream.

* * *

Rufus was sitting in his room--but it was different now; colder, less personal: the room of his childhood--in a stiff-backed wooden chair. A tall, naturally redheaded woman sat on the bed, smiling at him. Her beautifully crystalline blue eyes were warm with life.

Rufus' own eyes had been like this once, far before the first Mako treatment had frozen his inner fire.

"Don't worry, Mother," said Rufus. "I won't let him hurt you again."

"I know, Rufus, my beautiful son. How well you've grown and how strong you have become," Virginia replied gently.

"There is somebody that I want you to meet."

"Soon, Rufus, very soon. But first, come here. It has been far too long since I last was able to hold my son."

The blonde stood and walked to the bed.

"Sit down beside me, Rufus," his mother beckoned.

He did, and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling his head down to rest on her shoulder and storking his hair lovingly.

Her touch was cold as death.

Rufus pulled away.

"What is wrong, my son?" asked Virginia, her voice distorted.

Then, before Rufus could react, she was gone.

The room twisted itself; transformed into an immense office. Unlike his own, which was far more private with its polished mahogany desk covered in papers and coffee mugs, this one was open and impersonal with a large, half-circular metal-and-glass desk covered only in computers and fluorescent lighting.

He was sitting in the overly large leather desk chair, looking out through a pane of bullet-proof glass at his own father's angry, dark blue eyes (so much different than his own) from behind the President's own desk.

"What are you doing, boy?" bellowed Shinra. "That desk isn't yours until the day that I die, and I'm not planning on that day coming anytime soon."

"What did you do?" Rufus screamed hysterically. "What have you done to Mother? What have you done to me?" A screeching began in his head, and the Vice President clasped his hands over his ears and jerked forward, barely avoiding slamming his head into the edge of the desk.

"What is your problem, whelp?" the father screamed in an attempt to drown out his son's tortured cries. He stomped around the desk and turned the chair to face him.

The father had no time to react as the young Vice President's eyes opened wide and his hand flicked out quickly as if of its own accord. Shinra didn't even know what hit him before the blood began to flow from four visible gashes across it where Rufus' nails had slashed.

One drop of the father's blood fell from Rufus' hand, which looked almost clawed in its distortion.

"This was your biggest mistake, Father, creating a monster that you weren't prepared to face," echoed Rufus' memory tauntingly as the President fell into a lifeless heap of crimson on the floor as his blood mixed seamlessly with the red of his suit.

"_Beast!_" screeched the voices in Rufus' head. The young blonde felt as if his whole body was ready to rip itself apart. He was changing…

A head-splitting wail cut through the voices and the screams. It felt to the blonde as if life and death themselves were waging their eternal war within his skull.

"Shut up…" he hissed, dragging his own claws down the sides of his head, creating thin lines of scarlet in their paths.

And the voices did.

He was in his room again, in that same, straight-backed wooden chair, looking the same as he had when he had sat there just moments before, across from his mother, who was sitting in that same place on the edge of his bed, looking at him with that very same pleasant expression.

"Hello, Rufus."

"Mother."

"Yes, my beautiful son. How well you've grown and how strong you have become," Virginia replied gently.

"What? But you already…"

"Is something wrong?"

"I…" But Rufus couldn't finish his sentence.

Without even moving, he felt the touch as cold as death. Then, he was once again behind his father's desk.

Flashes. Only quick flashes of it all.

Warm blood on claws.

Father lying dead on the floor.

Screaming, screaming, screaming.

Mother.

And again.

Then, it stopped. There was nothing left No room. No office. Only him.

There was the sound of footsteps--on what, he couldn't guess--coming from either side of him. To his right he saw himself, and he looked into his own cold eyes. On his left was Reno.

"So, this is her?" asked Reno.

"What?" asked Rufus. His voice was not his own. It was gentle and warm. It was his mother's.

"Yes," said the other Rufus.

"She's beautiful. Now I know where you got your good looks," stated Reno as if he were looking at a piece of art, rather than at a human being.

"Did you think it came from my father, Reno?" asked the other Rufus, continuing to talk around the real Rufus that wasn't.

A scream, and Rufus' head whirled. He remembered that scream vividly, almost expecting it to have come from his own lips. But it hadn't.

There was a gun in his hand, and he had it pointed at his own Mother's head. His brain told him to drop the weapon.

But his body fired it.

He turned quickly as steps shifted toward him from somewhere behind.

A blood-covered hand circled around his throat, and nails dug into his skin. He could feel the hand shake, but the gaze given by his attacker remained steady.

Though the hand could barely reach around the front of his throat (and he feared that he knew the reason why), hw could feel the air leaving his lungs.

"I'll rip your fucking throat out, you bastard, even if it kills me," growled the other Rufus.

Rufus had no choice but to fire the gun into the gut of his other self.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a man, Father," echoed his own memories.

The real Rufus, in the body of his most despised enemy, dropped to his knees, grasping his head once more and screaming for it all to stop.

And the voice was his again.

He looked around. He was in that void from before, unaccompanied by anything but his own mangled thoughts.

He looked down at his hand. The fingers were thin and long like they had always been.

"Be at peace, my son," came the voice of Virginia. Rufus looked around. There was nobody there. It was impossible to tell if the voice came from in or out of his head. But had he heard another voice with that of his mother, high-pitched and ghastly, but oddly compelling, like the song of a siren?

"Get up off of the ground, you worthless wretch!" screamed a thousand voices at once, with the President's at the forefront. Once again, Rufus searched for the source of the sound, but found none.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Rufus said, more to himself than to anybody else.

"Rufus, my dear, why do you forsake me?" asked the siren's song again, but Rufus didn't realize that his mother's voice had disappeared.

"Mother…no…I don't…"

"You're killing her, boy," said the thousand voices, drowning out that of his father completely.

"No…Mother!" Rufus turned panic-stricken and hysterical. "I'm going to help you, Mother! Let me help you…Where are you? Let me see you again…Let me save you…"

* * *

Hojo stared at the corpse-like form on the table before him, and, for a long time, there was no sign of change.

But, soon, the war within Rufus began to become apparent on the outside of him.

It started with a slight twitch of the fingers. Then, the spasms spread throughout his body. He jerked as if he were being electrocuted.

It was fascinating to watch.

One twitch broke the leather strap around Rufus' forehead. Hojo was forced to move quickly to try and stop the blonde from slamming his head repeatedly into the table.

"She's doing more than I initially suspected…What do you see?" Hojo asked aloud. "What does she have to show you?"

"Mother…no…" Rufus moaned, as if in response to the professor.

Mother? I've heard this reaction before…"

"Mother! Where are you? Let me help you…Let me see you again…"

"She's _winning_. But how?"

* * *

"No…Mother, I'm going to save you…"

"There's nothing you can do for her, you wretched boy…"

"Shut up, old man!" Rufus was on his knees, his hand yet again on his ears. Everything he said was in a scream. "Mother! Mother! Tell me there's something I can do to save you!"

"There is, my son."

"What is it, Mother? I'll do anything!"

"Give in."

"…What?"

Give in to me. Abandon him and give in to me."

"Yes, Mother."

"No, I can't let her win…Jenova will kill him, and my experiment…" Hojo hissed, but Rufus couldn't hear.

"My beautiful son. We'll be together forever."

"Of course, Mother."

"…it will be ruined…"

"Rufus," cut in a new voice over the thousand voices, in place of where his father's once was.

"Who…?"

"Rufus, you're Mother's already dead. You know that."

"No! Don't say that!"

"Don't listen to him, my son. Let the sound of my voice tell you the truth."

But it wasn't her voice, Rufus suddenly noticed.

"You know now, doncha' Drama Queen?"

"Reno…" the blonde whispered as the sound of the other voice registered in his recollection.

"Rufus, listen." There were thousands of angry voices, quiet voices, sobbing voices, but Rufus could only hear one: the voice of Reno Kiribani. "You know your mother's dead, and it wasn't you who killed her."

"Reno, why do you have to tell me?"

"Because you were losing yourself."

"Then you should have let me."

"You know I couldn't do that."

"Why not, Reno?" Rufus yelled angrily. "Answer me that!"

"That's easy, Rufus. I'm selfish, and I want you all to myself."

Rufus paused for a very long while.

"That was a joke, you know. You're supposed to laugh."

"I think you may have come to late. I don't think there's anything left of me to save."

"If that's how it is, you wouldn't be telling me that."

"…Maybe." He felt like the defenseless, weak child he used to be.

"Rufus, I need you to wake up."

"What are you talking about?"

"Open your eyes. It's that easy."

So he did.

* * *

Hojo actually jumped, startled, as Rufus' eyes opened slowly and the blonde took in his surroundings, moving as much as he could from under the remaining straps.

"I don't believe it," said Hojo with a smirk. "You really are a special subject. I actually thought you were done for."

"Where the hell am I?" Rufus groaned as if it had been years since he's last used his voice.

"You're in my lab."

"…Hojo?"

"The Professor leaned over his research subject so that Rufus could see him. "This has been a most interesting experiment. You're even more resilient than I originally suspected."

"What the fuck did you do to me?"

"I saved your wretched little life."

"Why?"

"It was an order. From your father."

"So that explains why I'm here and not with a legitimate doctor."

"Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but you would have died with a _legitimate_ doctor. It's because of me that you can even talk right now."

"And that's something for which I'll have to be thankful to you for the rest of my _wretched _little life," the blonde rebutted sarcastically. "Now undo these straps, Hojo, and let me go. I'm alive and well. This experiment is over."

"Not just yet, _Specimen_. You're not ready to be up and about just yet."

"Do I look like I care?"

"Do you really think you're in a suitable position to be making decisions here?" Hojo hissed annoyedly. "You know, I could just make you disappear and blame it on a failed experiment."

"Then my father will have your head, and you know it. Empty threats don't work on me, Professor."

"I never thought you would stoop low enough to use your father to defend yourself."

"At least he's finally good for something." Rufus smirked. "I know you hate him as much as I do, Hojo, and if you let me go, I'll be sure to make his life a living hell for the both of us."

Hojo managed to crack something close to a smile. "You cut a good deal, Specimen."

"It's one of my specialties."

"Plus, after-effects of these experiments tend to be much more interesting when they're let loose in an uncontrolled environment."

"That's reassuring," Rufus stated dryly. "Now undo the straps."

"I will in a moment. But first, I need to take a blood sample."

"Well, hurry it up."

Hojo drew a sample from the back of Rufus' left, uninjured hand, and undid the straps.

Rufus stood, swaying slightly at first. The cold air of the laboratory hit his chest, which now only showed faint evidence of shot wounds.

"Do you happen to have any extra shirts handy?"

"This is a laboratory, not a boutique."

"Very well." The Vice President walked out of the door and slammed it behind him.

Hojo laughed from within the lab.

* * *

Miya's Note: Chapter 16 is next! Chapter 16 is next! Ooooohhhh…I'm so excited! I haven't finished writing it yet, but it's such a fun concept!

And, was it just me, or did Rufi's Mako trip take Cloud's, beat it into the ground, chop it up into tiny little bits, burn it to ashes, then pee on it?


	16. Sensuality

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 16: Sensuality

By Miyamashi

* * *

Miya's Note: Sorry this took so horridly long to put up. This was BY FAR the longest, most backbreaking (well, figuratively) chapter so far, as well as the hardest to write, both intellectually and emotionally. I was having a lot of writer's block during this one, you know, which caused my brain to attempt numerous times to spontaneously combust. I also wanted to fling things at walls or random people at various times during my writing. Most of the Chapter is a second draft. The original was done by hand. This has a significantly larger amount of action than originally planned. The whole part with Reno's little past…endeavor came on its own. It does help to balance the lovey-dovey stuff, so that's okay.

For all of the crap I went through creating it, I hope you all enjoy it! :D

Oh, and thank you for ALL of your wonderful reviews! You guys keep me going, and faster than I would normally go.

To Rosalyn Angel: Your "Three halves" comment really made me think of Douglas Adams and his FIVE book _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy _TRILOGY. XD

To Narcissistic Fruitcake: I tried to hurry! Really, I did!

To keeper: Thanks for the review. I'd like to see sometime how you interpret Rufus. I like checking out how other people see the characters! I'm sorry I put you through _White Flag_. Hugs

To Crimson Release: Hiya! Thanks.

To Neflathir: Oh, yes, I know NOW that Rufus is alive. I've been keeping track of the Advent Children news. But, alas, I've gone too far into writing this story to bother with compensating for the new compilation. You see, if I did that, it'd completely change the story. Like, for instance, the ending, most of which I already have planned out, and _White Flag, _which, all things considering, is now completely inaccurate. Also, there are characters in Before Crisis (Like Veld, who was the Turk leader before Tseng) that should be in this, but I don't know enough about them to be able to incorporate them into the story. And WHO KNOWS what Dirge of Cerberus is going to do to me? I love Square, but the decision to release a bunch of spin-offs so many years after the original is going to screw over a LOT of fanfics!

So, let's say BAU is an FF7 fic, sans spin-offs. Sorry no living Rufus, though! (As much as I would like to keep his sexy behind alive, it would completely ruin the planned emotional impact that this fic has and will have if he dies!)

To Nanaki BH: Uhhh…reading the chapter might clear up a few things…like the supposed "clones" thing, which doesn't exist… But this chapter…or at least the beginning of it…should make you VERY happy. It's all description!

To Puppet In The Corner: So, does that mean that I have converted you over to Runoism? Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more! Haha!

Tarshil: Wowza. Those were some lovely complements! Thanks so much! sniff I shall strive to make this the most "magnigicent" fanfic ever created! (Don't worry. I LOVE that typo. I think I'm going to start using that in my daily dialect.)

To Sky Redfern: Oh, believe me. I've gone this far and I have absolutely no intention of stopping now! The fic will continue! Thanks for the kind feedback!

To She Who Loves Your Story (O.O): Lookie! I updated!

To corkykiggs: Muahaha! I have converted another to the cult of Runoism! Hahaha!

Ugh. I still managed to make an insanely long intro! ARRGH!

**

* * *

**

Rufus stepped into the elevator, and his right pointer finger hovered over the numbered keypad. His left hand reached into his back pocket, from which he pulled his wallet, which contained his identification. He slipped the inexplicably important piece of plastic into the tiny card slot.

The blacked-out buttons lit up to allow him access to the lowest and highest floors.

His finger moved to lay lightly on top of the button for the deepest basement. Maybe he could catch Reno in the Turk training area? Oh, how he could use a little something from the fiery redhead to clear his foggy mind.

But, wait. Rufus made a sudden change of mind and pressed the number seven. After all, he still wasn't wearing a shirt. He wondered aloud what Hojo had shot him up with to blur his common sense so. No, not to the Turk training ground, Rufus, to your room, where you can clean up and make yourself look at least semi decent before you revolt the poor man.

As the elevator rose, Rufus' head reeled. Strange. He had never been affected by the movement before, or by the change in height. He had been exposed to these lifts since childhood. Why would he? He felt near ready to collapse. Perhaps the experiment had made him more susceptible to vertigo.

As the elevator stopped, Rufus stepped slowly out of it and leaned against the wall in hopes that his head would stop spinning. Still a little dizzy, the blonde moved to his apartment, unlocked the door, and entered. It looked the same as always, save a little bit more blurry. Comfortable, but still with an air of richness about it, those rooms were the only place that truly felt like home to him. He took the opportunity to collapse in an un-businesslike manner on the bed once he had passed through the entryway.

This was a chance to think. What was the last thing that he remembered before he had woken up in Hojo's lab? He remembered pain. He had been shot multiple times. He knew that much. He also knew that his father was the reason for that having happened. He remembered his mother, or at least traces of her that had crept into his mind. He remembered Reno, too. Something about Reno. Reno had saved him…saved him from something, but he didn't know what.

It was all a mottled blur of memories and sounds. What of it had been dream? What of it had been reality? He turned slowly to his back. Looking down at his chest, the skin was slightly marred there. So, the shots must've been real. But, the wounds were almost completely healed. How long had he been under the Professor's watchful eye and insatiable lust for knowledge? Not too terribly long, surely. Hojo looked about the same as he had when Rufus had last seen him. Plus, his own body remained in near its usual condition. If he had been under anesthesia (or just plain unconscious) for any truly long amount of time, his muscles would have at least begun to atrophy. But, no. Nothing.

He was hungry, he realized, but still too dizzy to do anything about it. For the moment, he would have to settle with mere resting.

He thought back to the last time he had been put under Hojo's "care". It had been a trying time, surely, to both his body and his mind, but nothing like this. No. He felt more tired than he ever had. It was like a thousand nights without sleep, and the feeling left of those nights beckoned him to rest. It pleaded him to slumber his life away, and dream of a reality where things like _this_ didn't happen. It pleaded him to sleep and be numb to the world.

But the aggravated growling of his stomach begged him otherwise.

He grumbled in response, deciding that, dizzy and tired or not, he had better get up and shut the damn thing up. Then he could sleep.

Holding himself steady against the walls, Rufus stumbled slowly to his small but adequate kitchen. If only the food there had been so adequate. He had been gone long enough, he realized, for everything to have started to mold over.

If he wanted to eat, he would have to go somewhere and get food. This involved effort. That was something that Rufus Shinra, at that moment, did not particularly want to face. But, grudgingly, as crazy as it may have sounded, he listened to his stomach as if it were talking to him and he went to go get some clothing so that he could drop by the café. He pulled a pair of his usual white dress pants and a black button-down shirt from the closet and flung them on the bed, staring longingly through droopy eyes at the cushy sheets.

Looking down at his right hand, he noticed another healing shot wound. He could never be too cautious, he thought, and decided to cover the conspicuous mark. He dug the pair of cut-off leather gloves he used for gun training from a box in his closet and threw them on top of his clean clothes.

As an afterthought, he pulled a key from his wallet and slipped it into a lock on a cabinet across the room. Paranoid? Probably, but he could never be too cautious, he reminded himself again. The doors of the armoire swung open, revealing Rufus' collection of assorted weapons. From it he picked out a small twenty-two caliber pistol and a switchblade. These should be inconspicuous enough. He added them to the pile on the bed before walking to the bathroom.

As much as he didn't want to add another step to his unfortunate expedition, the Vice President of Shinra Incorporated was a very fastidious man, and he needed a shower. Plus, he couldn't go out, with a position as important as his, accompanied by a smell that was very much the opposite of fastidiousness.

It was a quick shower. He turned the water on, scrubbed off, and was out. He wrapped a towel around his waist. Water dripped onto his shoulders and the floor from his soggy hair. He turned.

It shocked the blonde to see his own face in the bathroom mirror. He looked worn, drawn, and haggard, his skin glistening with sweat and shining a sickly green-gray. But his eyes shone with a dreadful fire. Part of it was Mako. He had seen them shine like this--well, not exactly like this--once before. They seemed as drained of life and color as the rest of his visage, and they managed to remain cold despite their strange appearance of white hot stars being swallowed from the inside by black holes.

When he could finally draw his gaze from his own optical impossibility, he looked back to the rest of himself. He was more pallid than he had been just moments before. The only faint color that seemed to show upon him was the gold-copper gleam of his hair, which seemed to be fading, itself. It, nonetheless, shone brightly against the monochromatic tones of the rest of him.

And the room was the same. Color began to morph to grays, whites, and blacks. Rufus turned from the mirror. No, it wasn't a trick of the looking-glass. The hair in front of his face blended with the rest of his surroundings, all now a sundry and terrifyingly colorless picture that seemed as flat and lifeless as one of his old sketches.

The contrast between objects in the room began to fade. They began to meld together in a blur of black and white. He stumbled out into the bedroom, feeling around for the edges of objects. His fingers grasped something soft and inviting. He put on his clothes, not caring that he wasn't exactly dry or that he looked remarkably like a half-drowned and dying creature after it had been caught for too long in the swamps, using more his touch than anything to guide the fitted cloth onto his body. The weapons remained where they lay.

He scratched futilely at his eyes. This only seemed to worsen the condition. The room around him faded darker, darker, darker…

And then, he couldn't see at all.

Bursting from the room in a state of disarmed, blind panic, Rufus stumbled and swayed down the excruciatingly long hallway to the elevator. Once, he tripped over his own foot and toppled over. He had to practically climb the wall to get back up. Inside the elevator, he fought to find his footing and stabilize himself.

Card key…card key…where did he put the damn card key? To his relief, he found that he had slipped it into his back pocket out of mere habit. He felt for the card slot and forced the identification in.

It didn't work.

He tried it in the other direction. A small ding confirmed that the restricted floors were accessible. He ran his hands over the buttons in attempt to figure out which was the correct one. Ah, yes. That one, on the bottom left.

The sooner he found Reno, the better.

The elevator was completely silent. He felt it moving, but there was no other sign that it was doing so. He groaned in frustration and a bit of fear.

And though he knew he had made a sound, it wasn't there.

Slowly--as slow as the movement of the elevator itself--Rufus began to notice that his eyes and ears were not suffering alone. He realized the truth behind the old saying about not missing something until it was gone. After all, he had never noticed the slightly musky odor of the Shinra building. Not until now, when it had begun to fade. Even the aftertaste of his last meal, which had caused his stomach to writhe in pain, was disappearing.

Then, the last. There was no feeling in his body. There was no way to keep himself from collapsing--no way to even know that he did.

It was as the door was opening to the training area as he fell, and he dropped to the ground, half in and half out of the elevator.

The only sound, that of the doors opening and closing repeatedly as the blonde's body triggered the sensors that kept them from closing all the way, fell on deaf ears.

* * *

Six floors up, in the lobby of Shinra Incorporated, a Turk waited impatiently in front of the elevator. For once, he carried a gun in his coat so that he could practice shooting. He tapped his foot. It didn't come. His elevator was stuck on "B3", which was, ironically enough, his destination. He would have just given up and used the other lift, but it was rising slowly upwards from floor 45, and it would be a while before it reached his level.

The stairs looked inviting enough. It really wasn't that long to walk, plus…

Reno Kiribani opened the door to the stairwell, walking in and closing it behind him. He looked around. No cameras. No observation.

Perfect.

Because Reno could really use a cigarette. He lit one and began his descent.

The redhead couldn't place why, but he was filled with a sudden sense of dread. Something about the whole situation was suspicious. Why would the elevator have broken down on _that_ floor? Usually, somebody would have to be there for that to happen. Either somebody had gone down earlier and had taken the stars back up, somebody was there at that exact moment, or the cable had snapped and the elevator had fallen all the way down. It was the lowest floor in the building, after all.

Reno's gut told him that the second speculation was probably correct, but he didn't know why.

He readied his gun, although it'd probably not save him if he needed it. There were only a very select few who had access to the training grounds. Among these were the other Turks, both of whom he knew the current location of. Tseng was in his office doing paperwork. Rude was out on a mission to track some girl that the science department wanted.

The others with access were all executives, and only one of them had ever come down there for as long as he could remember. But he was…

It was probably a break-in. Maybe, he thought to himself as he wished he had brought his mag-rod, the crook was a wimp and he would merely have to aim the gun in his general direction to scare him and have him apprehended.

But why would anybody pick _there_ as a target for break-in. It was just about nothing but a shooting range, a sparring mat, a couple of empty monster cages, and some dummies used for fighting practice. What could anyone want with that?

Nevertheless, he readied his ID cautiously, aware that he was armed with only a weapon that he couldn't use to save his life, if it came to that. His access was confirmed. The door unlocked with a click.

And as it swung open, Reno's cigarette fell to the ground. The pistol followed it, and the sound of clanking and clacking metal echoed through the cavernous space. The redhead's eyes locked onto a figure lying motionless on the ground.

He walked slowly toward it, as if in a trance. It couldn't be…

But it was.

It was his Rufus.

Kneeling by the blonde, Reno felt for a pulse. He couldn't feel anything, but he never had been good at finding the right spot. In fact, he had just about as much talent for medical things like that as he had with shooting.

He pulled the bottom half of the other man from the elevator. The doors closed and the numbers on the indicator above them began to change. Reno flipped Rufus onto his back, setting the blonde's head on his lap and brushing the hair from the pallid face. Rufus' chest expanded slightly with a shallow breath, and the redhead's contracted with a sigh.

"Rufus," he whispered, "what happened to you? I thought that you were dead…" He shook the blonde slightly. "How long have you been down here? Were you looking for…me?" Reno let out a desolate, mirthless chuckle.

"Of course not."

"Rufus? Hey, c'mon…I know you're alive, so get up." He futilely tried shaking the blonde again. Rufus remained unconscious and completely limp in the Turk's hands. The redhead flushed slightly with worry, his face growing hot as his breaths grew more heavy.

Reno had no choice but to pick Rufus up, letting the comatose man's head fall and rest against his chest. He held Rufus close to him, using the little freedom of movement that he had in his right arm, on which the other man's leg's rested, to press the button for the elevator.

If this one didn't work, he would scream. After all, Rufus weighed more than he did, and he's have a hard time carrying him up the stairs.

But the lift stopped on "B3", and Reno dashed through the doors, still staring down toward the man in his arms, leaving his gun and still-burning cigarette behind. He was startled out of his reverie by the sound of a gun being armed.

"Just the men I was looking for," said a deep, hoarse voice from just inches in front of him.

Reno cursed under his breath.

"Fancy seeing you here, Sir," Reno stated sarcastically, looking up to face the President. "May I ask why you chose to come _here_, of all places?"

"What do you think, Turk? I'm looking for you. And you may do well to drop that contemptuous tone around me, you filthy parasite. The boy was released from Hojo's lab over a half-hour ago now, and he was neither in his office or his apartment, so I figured he would run straight to you. I see that I was right."

Reno bit down on his tongue.

"Since I knew that Tseng kept a very good eye on you, I asked him where you could be found, and he told me that you were coming down here for gun training. Are you _planning _something?" Shinra prodded Reno's forehead with the gun barrel, as if he were a trained circus animal. "And isn't this convenient? I could kill you right now with no resistance from the whelp. What did you do to him, Kiribani? Did the little fag scream your name before he fainted in your arms?"

If his hands had been free, Reno would have lunged at the President. Instead, he just hugged Rufus closer to him. The blonde never knew that he had saved Reno again, this time from a shot wound to the head.

"Too bad he's not awake to see this bullet shatter your skull."

"Before you kill me, I have a proposition to make."

"I'm not interested," Shinra said impassively.

"But I know that you don't want to have to deal with him. I take care of your son until he recovers, and that'll keep the both of us out of your way."

"I think that I would rather just kill you."

"But if you kill me now, like you said, he won't be able to watch my brains splattering against the wall and all of that. It just won't be as dramatic. Keeping me alive until he's recovered 'll give you a chance to make him suffer more."

"Why should I let you live until you're in a better position to fight back _and_ he's standing behind you?"

"Because this is too easy, that's why. There's only one thing that you and Rufus have in common, and that's your lust for competition and a bit of excitement. There's no challenge now, no impact, just a gun at the head of a man and an easy opportunity for a kill."

Shinra responded by pulling the gun away from Reno's head, much to the redhead's surprise. "Don't expect me to show any mercy next time, Turk." A slightly unnerving smile crept its way onto the President's large face as he stowed his gun in his jacket and pulled out a cigar. He bit the end from it, spitting it to the ground, and lit it. The smoke drifted lazily through the air.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence as the elevator door attempted to close. The President stopped it with his foot. Reno hadn't even noticed that they had already arrived. He looked around in the new location.

"Where are we?" asked the Turk.

"Science wing. I'm not staying here. I think I may have to kill somebody after all if I have to deal with you and the madman."

"…Who?"

"Hojo, you idiot." And Shinra stepped back into the elevator, leaving Reno practically alone.

The Turk stepped up to a steel sliding door. Somehow, even it gave off an air of malice that matched that of the rest of the floor. Reno didn't know why, but he just didn't like his current location.

Since he couldn't exactly knock effectively, the redhead kicked at the door. From behind it came a grunt of annoyance that echoed through the entire level with a strange sort of shrill impetuosity. The thick steel parted with a seemingly angry hiss, revealing behind it a thin man in a lab coat who glared at Reno from behind thick spectacles and under a thin but protrusive brow line. But that glare suddenly turned itself into an eager smirk, though the malignant aura surrounding the man didn't fade. The Professor stepped out of the doorway, motioning for the redhead to carry in the prized specimen.

"You Doctor Hojo?" Reno asked bluntly, setting Rufus down on a metal examination table.

"_Professor_ Hojo," hissed the man in the lab coat, taking off his glasses and cleaning them off with a rag from his coat pocket. "I'm no doctor. Those dirty, simple medical sciences have never appealed to me. Too low for my tastes. I regret having to even associate them with the word 'science', I'm afraid." Hojo stepped over to Rufus, picking up his clipboard so that he could take more readings. "Where's the bastard father?"

"Hell if I know. He dropped me off here and then left."

Hojo grinned sinisterly, not looking at his company. "And _you_ are?"

"Reno Kiribani. I'm a Turk."

"Shinra, that coward. Always too spineless too do anything on his own. I swear, he has lackeys for everything."

"I…" Reno bit his lip. "So, you hate him, too."

Hojo gave Reno a blank stare, as if to say, "No, really? How ever did you guess?"

"Forget I asked. What's wrong with Rufus?" Reno inquired, the worry evident in his voice.

Hojo paused in his observations, leaning against the table and looking at the redhead.

"What?"

Hojo merely laughed and went back to taking readings.

"_What_?" Reno asked again, getting quickly annoyed. "And you never answered my question."

"It's nothing that won't wear off. You can rest assured that he will be back to his usual sarcastic ways soon enough. His senses were merely over-taxed. As a result, they temporarily shut down. Time is all that is needed for recovery. It's a bit disappointing, really. I was hoping for some more interesting results." That menacing grin reappeared on the scientist's face. "You should quit fretting. You'll end up with an ulcer, and then you will have to come down here for treatment."

Reno didn't want this in the least. He had heard once that higher-level SOLDIERs received Mako treatments from Hojo himself, but he didn't stay in the forces long enough to find out. From what he had heard, that only came after a couple of years of intense training. Surviving Hojo's special Mako treatments was supposedly how one got promoted to first class. Reno had only ever reached a couple of classes over grunt (twice, both times before being quickly demoted), and his treatments had come from a grumpy nurse with a pension for stabbing her patients with the needle a little bit too hard for comfort. "How long do you think it will take," he asked, partly relieved by the Professor's assurances that the blonde would be alright.

"Most likely a couple of days." Hojo walked into a back room and was gone for a while before returning with a small case.

"What's that?"

"There are five needles in here. I have filled each with vital nutrients. Give him one a day. You don't want him to die of malnutrition while he's…asleep."

"…No…" Reno scuffed his shoe into the ground.

"Now leave. I have no need for him at the moment, and you are in my way."

Reno decided that Hojo was a positively _charming_ man, and wondered if all of those rumors he had heard about his being a babe-magnet were all that true. The redhead picked Rufus up from the table, and Hojo set the case of needles on top of the incapacitated form.

* * *

As Reno hoped, Rufus' apartment door was unlocked. Even more conveniently--albeit a bit suspiciously--the door was ajar. He set the blonde down on the bed.

Rufus looked so helpless; so innocent. It both intrigued and frightened the Turk. Rufus was a pale, fragile porcelain statue: such a beautiful piece of art, but far too easy to shatter.

Reno pulled one needle from the case. "I should have asked Hojo where to stick this," he said aloud, pulling the cover from the sharp point. "Well, whenever I get shots, I always get them in the arm…"

He held the syringe between his teeth, trying the pull up the long, fitted sleeve of Rufus' shirt, eventually having to give up and just take the man's top completely off.

A familiar wave of lust washed over him. He wanted to feel Rufus' warm lips against his own, but knew, in reality, that they were cold and bloodless. Reno tore his eyes from his sleeping lover's lean chest and palely angelic face, looking instead to the blonde's arm.

The redhead was fortunate that the near-white skin on Rufus' arm clearly showed the veins beneath, and he jabbed the needle into one, injecting its contents into the man's bloodstream.

One dose of fluid just didn't seem like nearly enough to keep him alive.

"Don't die on me now, okay?" Reno asked, knowing perfectly well that he wasn't going to get an answer. Rufus merely lay silently on the bed, his breathing surprisingly fast, all things considered.

"If you could see the way I'm melting over you now, you'd probably laugh in my face…" Reno sighed, letting the strange truth of the situation sink in. "You know, I like it when you laugh, Rufus. I don't think enough people get to hear you do it. In fact…am I the only one?" The Turk felt his cheeks getting hot with embarrassment, although the only reason for him to be the slightest bit humiliated couldn't hear a damn word he was saying. "I don't mean that laugh you do when you think something's ironic, either. I mean the real one, even if it is usually aimed at me."

"Yeah, you'd definitely laugh if you could see me now. Can you believe how emotional I'm getting? I actually wish you were awake to see this, although you'd never let me live with it."

Reno brushed a couple of strands of blonde hair from Rufus' cheeks. He bent down and brushed his lips over the other man's. They were chill. Reno didn't particularly care. "Wake up soon, Rufus, so we can laugh together."

* * *

Reno picked his head up from the edge of the bed where he had fallen asleep hours before and looked down at Rufus, who hadn't moved since he had. He ran his fingers lightly over Rufus' right arm, and he subconsciously knew that he was asserting his possession.

Rufus was _his_, and not anybody else's. He doubted whether Rufus was even his own.

Reno's hand stopped as he noticed a slight twinge of movement on the blonde's face. Then, came a twitch of the fingers.

And Rufus' hand was clasped around his own, the Vice President's eyes suddenly open wide and staring, horrified at the ceiling.

The thin fingers clamped down mercilessly on Reno's right hand, digging into it and drawing blood. The redhead pulled away, breaking free from the panicked grasp.

Rufus groped toward him, staring slightly in the wrong direction, although his finger tips scraped over the redhead's shirt and chest, and the nails drew thin, pink scratches down his skin.

"Rufus! Hey, calm down…it's just me!"

But the assault didn't stop, and Reno backed up quickly in retreat from the ceaselessly grasping hands and the wide, eerily glowing eyes.

Mako.

Rufus tried to prop himself up, but his arms gave out from under him and he collapsed back onto the bed, curling into a small, fetal ball and tearing violently into the sheets. Reno watched in stunned, fascinated terror from against one wall of Rufus' apartment bedroom until the blonde began to try to tear into himself--to gouge out his own eyes with those sharp nails--, screaming fitfully like a deranged man.

Reno grabbed his hands, leaning over him and pinning them to the bed. Rufus struggled to free himself, his eyes darting from place to irrelevant place around the room, his breaths coming in short, sporadic gasps.

"Rufus, _calm down_!" Reno yelled, but the blonde couldn't hear him. He didn't want to do it, but it made Rufus stop:

Reno punched him in the face, just hard enough to send one small stream of blood running down his chin from the corner of his mouth.

The blonde stared silently off to the side as his body relaxed. His tongue followed the blood as far down his chin as it could, and his breathing became slightly less erratic, though it still came in quick, panicked intervals.

Reno let one hand go warily, and Rufus didn't attack. The Turk picked the hand up gently and brought it to his face.

A thin finger ran over a scar from which crimson tears had once flowed, and the blonde's breathing slowed further. The ice-eyes closed slowly and the lips formed "Reno", a sound coming from them that remotely resembled the name. This confirmed Reno's earlier suspicions. Rufus was acting as if he couldn't tell what sound he was actually making. No, Rufus wasn't acting at all. Rufus couldn't hear Reno or himself.

Reno's hand cupped over the blonde's jaw, which had begun to turn a sickly green-purple with bruising. He flinched, but was complacent.

Two pairs of lips met as the redhead leaned down and pale arms circled his shoulders. He sat down on the edge of the soft bed.

The kiss ended far too soon for Reno's liking. Rufus' eyes reopened and stared blindly upward, the pupils quivering slightly in despair. The blonde raised himself slowly, using Reno as support, before going limp in the redhead's grasp, his face sinking into the nape of his lover's neck.

Reno did his best to comfort him. "Rufus," he whispered, forgetting for a moment that the name would fall on deaf ears. The breath on the Vice President's neck nonetheless managed to provide him with a small amount of consolation. The thin, bare chest rose and fell just a little more slowly and the heart within it slowed to match.

Reno, feeling this, whispered the blonde's name again, so softly even he himself had trouble hearing it. And again and again, but silently, just the airy puffs dancing over the warm skin next to the redhead's lips.

It was a long time, though how long it was difficult to tell, before the blonde stirred.

One last time, Reno mouthed the name, and the sound of it issued from his lips in an almost breathless stupor.

"Reno?" Rufus asked, pulling back slightly.

"Can you…?"

"I can hear you now, yes, but…so quiet…" the blonde whispered so that the redhead had to lean in very close to catch it. "I can feel you, too…but that's all."

"Rufus…I…"

"I wish I could see you…smell you…taste you on my breath…" His muscles tightened, then relaxed, and his body arched back into Reno's grasp as he breathed slowly and shakily, staring sadly at nowhere in particular. "I want you to come back to me."

Reno didn't quite understand what Rufus had meant by that, but he understood the plea in those last eight words, and he leaned forward over the bed, resting Rufus on the mattress and laying his head on the thin, pale chest, his flame-red hair fanning out over the skin like a wildfire.

"Don't leave. I need to feel you."

"I won't. I couldn't leave if I tried."

The hands on Reno's back went slack and fell against the expensive sheets. The eyes closed, and all was silent and still.

The body of the Turk convulsed violently with soundless sobs, though the breaths of the Vice President rustled the red hair, causing the flames to dance over his flesh.

* * *

Rufus' dreams were fevered, and the limits of his physical body manifested themselves in them. There was nothing, save for a jumble of sounds and pain.

He could actually _feel _it.

Again, that mass of screams and screeches haunted him, but this time he felt as if thousands upon thousands of pairs of groping, snatching hands accompanied them, trying to pull him even farther into the darkness.

He tried to scream, but they were smothering him.

* * *

Reno sat up with a start. The body under his was flinching wildly. Rufus' head was turning quickly from side to side, his mouth opening and closing silently in what seemed to be a wordless plea for help.

"Damn it…" Reno hissed, staring down at the blonde. He yelled the other man's name, shaking him and trying to wake.

This only made it worse.

It hurt to watch it and to not know what to do about it. He had to make him stop, but how? He cupped his hands over the blonde's cheeks, holding the head still. The body struggled against him, trying to grab his hands and pull them away.

"Stop…stop! Get away from me!" Rufus yelled, and Reno had to cover his mouth so he wouldn't attract attention.

Reno laid down fully on top of Rufus and held his arms down, burying his own face in the nape of the blonde's neck. The way Rufus struggled pitifully and helplessly against him, trying to scream and trying to bite a chunk out of the Turk's hand, it felt like rape.

And when Rufus finally did manage to grasp Reno's hand with his teeth, the redhead recoiled with an angry yell and had to stop himself from reflexively breaking the other man's jaw.

The Vice President seemed so innocent, so defenseless, so beautiful, his skin colorless beneath the blood that shone so brightly crimson across it, his hair spread out chaotically like tattered silk over the equally elegant sheets…

Reno wanted to take him, even as his fist hovered inches above the bloody lips.

* * *

Rufus was drowning. He was suffocating under the weight of those thousand gasping hands. Was this death? Was this his payment for all that he had done?

Oh, how he wanted to join the screams, but those hands were choking him. Nearly defenseless, Rufus did the only thing he could do at that moment: he bit down hard on the fingers covering his mouth. Some of the weight was suddenly lifted.

Reno fought hard against it, but he couldn't resist…just one little kiss…

His mouth was covered once more, but this time it felt as if his soul might be torn from him.

Lust was too powerful a force. There was no use fighting it any longer. He ran his nails down the pale chest…

Powerless to fight back, Rufus felt himself sinking into the darkness.

The victim was going limp. He would have his prize.

"…No…"

This wasn't death. No, death was the green eyes staring into his, though they were nothing but a memory.

"…what am I doing?"

Fall into the darkness. Even that was better than…

"Look at me!" Reno's eyes pleaded toward the other man.

* * *

Reno began to panic. What had he been doing? What had gotten into him?

Rufus, just by being there, was driving him insane. Worse yet, the redhead wanted nothing more than to be consumed in that insanity.

Consumed in the darkness…

He wanted Rufus to consume him.

…Drowned in a frigid void…

He wanted to feel that wonderful heat against his own bare flesh again…

…Lost. Merged with nothingness…

…Filled to the brim with his overwhelming ecstasy…

…_Empty. Soulless…_

His body was possessed, just as it had been when…

…No…no…not that…

"But you enjoyed it, didn't you Kiribani?" Mocked Reno's memory.

"No," replied Reno.

"I could see it. Don't lie to me, Kiribani. That's how you got yourself into this. Do you understand?" Pulitz hissed, grabbing Reno by the hair and pulling him inches away from his own nose. "You enjoyed hearing her scream as much as I did, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Leave me alone and just let me die!" Rufus yelled, bringing Reno back to his senses.

Those had been her exact words.

"Do you think that's gonna stop me? Who do you think I am?"

"Get off of me, you monster!"

"That's it, Kiribani…show the poor wench who you are…"

The adrenaline rushed through Reno's veins and his heart pumped loud enough to hear.

"I want to hear you scream…"

* * *

A familiar, musky odor filled Rufus' nostrils. No, he definitely wasn't dead, but what was this?

He heard a voice past the yells. Like it had once before, the voice of Reno Kiribani rang out above the others.

But how sinister it had become…

"Reno, where am I?"

**

* * *

**

The sound of his name seemed to bring him back a little. The redhead stopped, his face softening and his mouth hanging wide open. Rufus' eyes were open again, still staring absently upward.

This was not some nameless, insignificant woman in a dark back alley. This was Rufus Shinra, his boss and lover, whom he'd sworn to himself that he'd protect with his very life, for his job and for otherwise.

This was Rufus Shinra, who had almost become his second rape victim.

"You're in your room, here with me," Reno said. He would have added "safe", had he thought it were true.

"Why are they screaming, Reno? Is it me?"

"No, I…" The Turk stopped. There were no screams, but how could Rufus know?

"Make them stop, Reno," Rufus shouted, as if reverting back to his childhood. "Make them shut up. Make them let me go!" The blonde struggled under Reno's weight. Though he could have normally thrown him off easily, Reno seemed twice as heavy when Rufus' mind turned him into a thousand hands.

"Don't fight me, Rufus. There's nobody else here but you and me. I need you to be calm. If you're calm, you'll be okay," said the redhead, as if trying to assure himself.

"But I have to fight them. Help me, Reno…"

"There's nobody to fight but me."

"But I can feel them, Reno…"

The Turk got up off of the bed and backed off. The hands stopped and disappeared. And, with the hands gone, the screaming did the same.

"What happened?" asked Rufus quietly. "Where did they…?"

"It was all just me, Rufus. You were having some sort of freaky dream or something."

Rufus relaxed and smiled contentedly, sighing lightly into the air. "You always seem to pull me through." The blonde let out a small chuckle. "Come back and lay with me. I think I'll take the risk of having another episode."

"I can't do that."

"Why not, Reno? Take it as an order from your superior if you won't take it as your lover's request."

"I just can't."

"I thought you said that you wouldn't leave me."

"I guess I lied."

Rufus frowned, his brows knitting together.

"Listen, Rufus. I can't expect you to understand. It's just that I lost control before, and I don't want that to happen again."

"I don't care what happened, I need you here with me now."

"Rufus, I tried to rape you earlier."

Much to Reno's surprise, the redhead smirked. "Am I that sexy?"

"I'm serious, Rufus."

"You didn't try to rape me."

"You were unconscious and I know what I was doing."

"And if I had been awake at the time?"

"I don't know."

"You can't rape a willing subject."

"You were struggling against…"

"I was struggling against whatever Hojo's twisted fucking experiment did to me. I wasn't struggling against you."

Rufus stretched his arms out to the side. His body arched upward for a moment before sinking back down upon the bed.

"Reno, this body is nothing to be but a vessel and a source of weakness. Take it for your own. Do what you will with it. That's the only time it's ever good for anything. _Rape_ me, if that is what you want to call it. I like it better that way."

Reno stood stock-still, gaping slightly.

"I know that it is what you want. Would you prefer it if I struggled; if I fought back? Anything. You can have your darkest, most twisted sick little fantasies. I give myself to you."

"What if…?"

"Don't even speak. Just take it."

Reno took two steps forward. His legs touched the edge of the bed.

"If you're having doubts, then kiss me. Feel it. See that I want you to take this from me. Hear me moan into your mouth. Let it be music to your ears. Just don't hold back."

Reno moved in for the kill, striking Rufus' lips with his own like a predator to his prey. He grabbed the blonde by the hair, pulling his head back to expose his throat. Rufus' body shuddered as Reno ran his tongue across the sensitive skin. The Vice President grabbed his captor by the shirt and dragged him up onto the bed. The fact that Reno showed no resistance made it an easy task.

Reno sat, straddling Rufus' hips. The blonde struggled under him, which sent a wave of heat through the Turk's body.

This was freedom as Reno had never felt it before. Rufus had given him free reign. Every time prior, no matter who it was with, he either had to take it by force or settle with something less. Even with Rufus, he had been forced to hold back in the past.

The blonde's back arched, pushing their hips together.

"You don't have to fight. It's easier if you relax," Reno whispered.

Rufus complied.

"That's it. Just like that." The redhead's heart beat fast with his excitement. He ran his hands down Rufus' chest, and could feel that the pounding within it matched his own.

Rufus let his other senses take over where his eyesight left off. He let himself enjoy the taste the other man left on his tongue when they kissed. He took in the strong scent that spoke of cigarettes, scotch, blood, and something he could never quite place that invariably made him think of sex. He listened to the quick, heavy breathing that puffed against his skin in hot bursts.

Most of all, he felt the electricity that Reno always carried with him in his very veins--that same energy that had inspired the blonde to suggest the electro-mag rod as a weapon--that had begun to flow into him from that thin and powerful body in the form of sheer, unbridled passion.

Reno fumbled clumsily with the buckle of Rufus' belt. The Vice President slipped his fingers under Reno's hands and undid it with one swift movement. The clank of the metal buckle as Reno flung it to the floor cut through the near-silence that hung like a sheet over them.

"I want you," Reno whispered in a plea for reassurance that what he was doing was right.

"You have me."

"Give me more."

"Take it all."

"Everything."

"Yes."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

"I know. Now just shut up and take it."

"Yes, Sir."

If at all possible, Reno's heart raced faster as he fumbled with Rufus' pants much as he had with the belt shortly before.

"You do realize that the belt was there for a reason, right?" teased Rufus, the dry sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Eh? Reno asked all too quickly, sopping and flushing slightly. His fingers twitched above the button on the white dress pants.

"I don't keep that thing on for show. It's there to keep my pants from falling down around my ankles. That _is _what belts are normally used for, right, or am I some sort of freak?"

"For wanting me to shut up so bad, you sure do talk a lot."

"I'm a walking contradiction, remember? You can't expect me to always follow my own rules."

Reno silenced him with a long, hungry kiss. Rufus had to admit that what Reno lacked in skill, he made up for with zeal.

The blonde didn't let him do it for sheer lust. He didn't let him do it for love. What was love, anyway? That was something the blonde could never understand.

After all, he had originally gotten a very twisted interpretation of the word. He thought back to when he was learning how to read. Like any child's picture book, this one was optimistic. It told him that "love" was "what your parents feel for each other", with a picture of a happy husband and wife, so unlike his Mother and Father.

Needless to say, love was never something that Rufus Shinra had particularly looked forward to.

But if not for love or lust, then why?

Maybe it was just that sex was all he really knew of living; sex, and pain. The former just happened to be a hell of a lot more enjoyable.

So, this was a new kind of freedom to him, too. Hadn't he once said to Reno that suffering was his only affirmation of life? Now, that wasn't true. Now, he had a choice.

Strange, he thought, how only his damned father and this rugged shell of a man could make him feel anything. Strange, and a little sad.

Reno, on the other hand, didn't seem to be putting as much thought into the act as Rufus was. He just seemed to move in frantic, ecstatic pulses, letting his mind shut down and his body work on its own.

Oh, what Rufus would give for it to be that simple. He envied Reno so for his simplicity. He thought back to the redhead's musky odor. It spoke so truly of what he saw in the personality of the man who carried it. Smoke. Drink. Do your job. Make out with somebody. This seemed to be Reno to a tee.

But what Rufus couldn't see was that what made Reno so frenzied in his fervor was the very same thing that made him fear it. He kept thinking back to the rape of that poor, young woman. She had been a member of his brigade. She was younger than he was; more petit, very pretty. It was Reno who had set his eyes on her.

He had been Pulitz's favorite at one point. That fact, ironically enough, changed that same night when the officer found him in remorse for what he had done.

Reno had just gotten into SOLDIER, as it were. He was only sixteen and very naïve. He had asked the girl out once, and she had refused him. He brushed it off, content with watching her from afar, until…

"Kiribani, I've seen the way you look at that girl. How would you like to have more than a glance? I can change that."

"What are you talking about, Gerome?"

Pulitz took her to the bar; bought her a few drinks. He got her a little tipsy, then took her outside, where Reno had been waiting.

The girl looked confusedly between the two redheads before asking, pleadingly, to Pulitz, "What is he doing here? You said you were taking me somewhere where we could be alone. You never said anything about him!"

"I get her first, Kiribani," said Pulitz, ignoring the woman's plea, "then you can do whatever you want with her."

"That wasn't in the bargain, Gerome."

"Bargain? Bargain? There was no bargain about this, Kiribani. I'm doing you a favor, and you're talking to me about a bargain?" Reno shivered as he recalled it. Even now, the cold bite of Pulitz's drawling, ever calm voice cut through his memory.

"I'm leaving. You people are insane," screeched the girl. Funny, Reno thought to himself, how he couldn't remember her name, like he'd made himself forget so that the visions of her screaming hysterically under him didn't seem so appalling. After all, she was meaningless without a name. Just a pretty face.

"You're not going anywhere. Your use hasn't run dry yet," drawled Pulitz coolly, grabbing her arm tightly. "And don't even try to cry out. I won't think twice about breaking your lovely jaw." He shoved her against the wall, cupping one hand over her mouth to keep her from crying out.

Reno turned his head away disgustedly as Pulitz had his way with her. It wasn't of disgust at the act--no, he was too hardened by his desires for that--it was more like the kind of sickening feeling one gets when he realizes he's the one getting the dirty leftovers.

When he turned back, it was because of a hard grip on his shoulder.

"I've had my full, said Pulitz, lighting a cigarette and pushing the girl toward the young SOLDIER. "Now you take the scraps."

Acting as much the part of the mutt as Pulitz made him out to be, Reno grabbed the girl roughly from Pulitz's lack grasp and flung her naked body to the asphalt.

The taste that Rufus suddenly left in his mouth was bitter: a harsh reminder of the bile he had been forced to choke back that night as he realized what he had done…that night, hours after he had ravished the young body of his co-worker and left her, a gash across her throat, in the light of a street lamp on the cold alleyway pavement.

Rufus sank back against his pillow, his eyes wide and blank as hers had been, fresh blood dripping onto his prone throat from the aggravated cut on his lip.

The redhead ran his tongue over the tender throat once more, taking in the metallic taste and scent of the warm liquid there. Rufus shivered under him, the blonde's thin fingers tracing over his Reno's shoulder blades.

"You like it, don't you, having absolute power?" Pulitz's own words mocking him from the grave of his lover's lips.

Reno had a twisted image of things that had never been, but, nonetheless, felt so appallingly real. A thin, lanky, and scarred body moved beneath him. Red hair, even more bloodlike than his own, spread in an arc across the pillowcase in place of spun copper-gold.

Reno's body convulsed as he held back a sickening retch.

"What's wrong?" asked Rufus quickly, broken from his stupor of sensuality, his hands clasped tightly in strands of scarlet.

Reno stayed silent for a moment as he swallowed down the bitter, acidic mixture that lingered in the back of his throat. "Turn over," was his eventual reply. "I'm not done with you yet."

* * *

Miya's Note: Oh, yay! It's done! I've finally finished Chapter 16. I seriously hope I never have that much trouble with a chapter again.

Sorry to all of the Reno fans. I know you probably hate me right about now for making him a rapist, but you all needed a not-so-gentle reminder that THESE ARE NOT NICE PEOPLE.

Probably the creepiest thing about it is that I'm sure you'll forgive him for it, if you haven't already, just like Rufus was forgiven after the murder of Leiza. It's so fun to write such loveably appalling characters.


	17. Given Power, Given Life

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 17: Given Power, Given Life

By Miyamashi

Miya's Note: This chapter is an odd one. It's far shorter than the last, but not much less weird. It starts out kind of light (comparatively speaking), then builds up to that slightly darker tone you've probably come to expect by now, with some of those same odd jumps from serious to…not-so-serious. Whoo, I'm having way too much fun doing funky things with these characters, and not really going anywhere as far as time is concerned. This chapter's only a couple of days, just like the rest of them. Believe me, though, that the new branch of plot in the last half of this chapter will continue on into later ones.

Eventually I will get on to some actual stuff that will take up time, but, for now, I'm still developing the characters and the relationships between them. It's such twisted fun!

The only thing that's not fun is going back to my already submitted chapters and seeing all of the typos! How embarrassing. I DO know how to use grammar.

To Keeper: I'd love to see your pictures, but you can't type web addresses into anything on here. You'll have to do it with spaces, like www . something . com.

Tarshil: Wow, that was an impressive review. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And about the Rufus-be-bottom thingy, it reminded me of this silly little sketch I drew on this piece of paper of Rufus saying "I am bottom!". It was fun. I hope I didn't keep you waiting too horridly long. (Yay! You used "Magnigicent"!)

To Puppet in the Corner: You have no idea how happy that made me. I'd been sitting there checking the fic over and over again waiting for my 100th review. I was just sooooo clooooseee… Thank yoo!

To noddu: Thanks! huggles

To TheHomicidalManiac777: Well, does this answer your question? grins Thanks for reading. Yay for Runo, too. There really does need to be more of it out there, don't you think?

To Puki-san: I'm making addicts! So…many…addicts! It's like a drug…O.o

AND to Neflanthir, TwistedGoth, she who STILL loves your story, and corkykiggs: Thank you all so much! I lub you! (Bwaha! I must corrupt and disturb the masses!)

* * *

"We need him _here_. We can't risk running the mission with only two people."

"I'm sure he'll show up."

"Late, as always. I know he's your friend, Rude, and you know that I care as much about him as you do, but we can't keep allowing him to disappear like this. Not only is he compromising our mission, he is putting us in danger."

"You can't just fire a Turk, Tseng, and expect him to go on and be a normal, productive member of society. He knows too much. We all know too much. There is no way for _any _of us to be anything but Turks."

"I know. That doesn't change anything. Either we hire a replacement now, or we risk dying out there."

"He probably has his reasons. He always does."

"Nonetheless, whatever the reasons, a Turk cannot be allowed to compromise his brothers' lives. Any Turk who is deemed unable to adequately perform his job must be discharged."

"Like Valentine?"

"Rude, nobody knows what happened to Valentine."

"That's my point. He was fired by the President for interfering with the performances of the Turks and the science department, then he just disappeared."

"That won't happen to Reno."

"Like hell it won't. It might have already, for all we know. The President hates him, doesn't he? For all we know, Reno may already be dead, and we're standing here talking about firing him?"

"Reno has a habit of skipping work and disappearing for no apparent reason. We can't allow that."

"Well, maybe if we're _lucky_, he's already been killed, so he doesn't have to face his own comrade. You're the boss, Tseng. Do whatever you want," Rude said bitterly and walked out.

"If you're so worried about him, then _find him_," Tseng hissed to the door.

* * *

"I don't understand us," said Reno as the sun's first rays filtered dimly through the Midgar smog. 

"Haven't we already had this conversation?" was Rufus' reply.

"Yeah, I guess, but I still don't understand."

"What is there to understand? We are. There is nothing else you need to know."

"It's not just that. I just don't get life in general. I don't get any of it."

"Who does? The trick is to just let it happen. Just live. When you start to ask questions is when you start to doubt if any of it is worthwhile. I've learned that since I met you."

Reno laughed. "You're just trying to flatter me. I know you. You're just using your rich-man talk and that quick wit of yours to try and make me do what you want."

"Is it working?"

"Every time."

Rufus smiled more dimly than the shining of the sunlight. Reno could see the exhaustion in his face.

"Are you okay?" asked the Turk.

"Fine…I'm just fine, only…tired."

"Go back to sleep. You need it."

"No. I'll be alright."

"Sleeeep," Reno whined, waving his hand over Rufus' face like he was trying to hypnotize him.

"No, Reno. I have to…be strong." The blonde pushed himself to a sitting position.

"You've been strong enough. Go back to sleep." Reno pushed Rufus back so he was laying down again.

"_I _amthe one who is supposed to manipulate _you_. Let me up."

"No, you gave me the control, and I told you to go back to sleep."

"Why do we have to have these power battles? Just let me get up."

"Why do you have to do this to yourself? You need to rest, Rufus. You've had a hard few days."

"I've had a hard life, but that doesn't stop me."

"Just let me take care of you for once, okay? We'll just stay in here today, and you can get some _rest, _and then we can just , I dunno, do normal people stuff for once, instead of worrying about our jobs and all."

"Mmmn…sounds kind of tempting." the Vice President stared up blankly at the ceiling.

"Doesn't it?"

"Yeah…" Rufus laid one hand on Reno's shoulder. "I guess I can go back to sleep, but I need a little bit of motivation."

"What kind of motivation?"

"Just a strong Turk pillow to keep me safe and warm," Rufus whispered in his most sultry voice.

"Hmm, I don't know where I can find one of those." Reno made a show of acting like he was thinking very hard.

"I think you will be…adequate."

Reno looked at the thin fingers on his shoulder, then down to Rufus' face. "Wait a second."

"Yes?"

"You knew where my shoulder was."

"Yes."

"Can you see me?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you staring off like that?

Rufus looked straight at Reno. "I wanted to see how long it took you."

"You little bastard."

"I wish."

It took a second for the joke to settle in before Reno finally laughed.

"Lay down," uttered the blonde, pulling Reno's head down to rest on his chest, running his fingers carelessly through the red hair.

"I thought I was the pillow."

"Oh well. I don't really care."

"Hmm."

Reno drifted off before the thin fingers stopped moving.

"And I thought you wanted _me_ to go to sleep," Rufus whispered.

Reno felt heavy on Rufus' chest. The blonde stared at the ceiling once more: a practicehe laughed silentlythat he was getting quite good at. He felt _tired_. Still, so tired.

But he couldn't sleep. What was happening to him? What _had_ happened to him? Where was he in this world, who, what, _why_ was he _here_? Really?

What was the point?

Reno, right? Reno's the only reason…right?

Right?

But, oh, how Reno made him feel weak….

…And, an all-too-short fifteen hours later, Rufus awoke from the slumber that he hadn't even realized had started. Reno was beside him, asleep. The sheets were clean. There were a few boxes of opened take-out on the end table, and a used fork sat next to the one that Reno had left for him. The blonde picked it up and twirled it in his fingers. Looking at the food, none of the cold Wutai phone orders seemed too appetizing, though his stomach gurgled longingly.

He still felt tired.

Fifteen hours of sleep, and he still felt tired.

As if attempting to teach his body a lesson, Rufus stood, setting the fork back down on the table, crossed over Reno's. He fished through the dark closet for something to wear that wouldn't call attention to his identity, then grabbed his weapons from their temporary place by the take-out and walked out of his apartment door. The hall lights stung his eyes and his legs wobbled beneath him.

So _weak_.

* * *

A tall, thin man strode quickly through the halls of the Shinra Headquarters. The cloak that covered his body and head billowed out behind him. A shadow from the cloak distorted his face into a twisted picture. 

A few strands of strawberry blonde peeked out from under the white cloth of the robes.

"Who are you, sir, and what's your authorization?" asked a guard who was patrolling the hall at the time.

"Fuck you," replied the man, and pulled out a pistol and fired it into the man's hip, through the PHS communication device strapped to his belt. The slight ping of the silenced shot echoed through the corridor and then was gone, drowned out by the suddenly muffled cry of the guard.

"Don't make a peep, or I shoot again," the cloaked man hissed, covering the SOLDIER's mouth with one hand. "You're reaching for your weapon. The one attached to your left leg. I can feel it. Stop."

The guard was still.

"Unluckily for you," the attacker continued, "and luckily for me, it's the middle of the night, and there's nobody around to save you from this predicament, is there?" Feeling movement, the cloaked man's eyes shot down to the guard's right hand, which was inching slowly toward the knife strapped to his leg. The heel of the captor's palm jabbed into his throat with just enough strength to kill.

It took so little to slay him. The cloaked man was disgusted. He wouldn't have been able to fight back, had his position been worse.

Only a squeak issued from the young SOLDIER's lips as he collapsed, his windpipe crushed, his heart slowing suddenly to a screeching halt.

The cloak swished behind the man as he turned into his office.

Locking the door behind him, leaving the lights off, and sitting down in his desk chair, Rufus pushed the cloak's hood from his face. The Mako light from outside showed the shadows of the objects on his desk. He pressed a button to turn his computer on.

The machine whirred to life.

"Hojo, Aldous," Rufus whispered as he typed the name into the file registry on his screen. A picture resembling a mug shot appeared, with all of Professor Hojo's information organized neatly under it.

All that Rufus needed was a room number.

* * *

Not even bothering to knock, Rufus slipped his card key into the lock on Hojo's apartment door. 

Sometimes, it was good being the Vice President.

The door unlocked with a click.

The small entry chamber was dark. The inside doors that led to the other rooms in the dwelling were closed.

* * *

Hojo awoke to a shaft of light creeping across his room from the slowly opening door. He sat bolt upright in his bed, his loosely fitting nightshirt slumping off of one bony shoulder like a father's shirt being worn by his son. 

Ironic how things tended to happen in Shinra Incorporated. The one time he hadn't bolted his door was the one time he had a break-in.

A tall., black figure blocked some of the light, and a shadow fell over Hojo. The Professor felt around his end table for his glasses. A tumbler of water fell and shattered on the ground.

The figure moved quickly, darting up next to the bed. The light gleamed off of something metal in the figure's hand. It was blurred, but the scientist sensed that it was most likely a knife.

"Don't move," whispered the figure harshly. "It won't help me any if I have to use this. Believe me."

"At least let me find my spectacles, so that I can see you before you slit my throat."

"I will find them." The figure walked around the bed. It, or he, Hojo realized, judging from what he could tell by the whispers, picked the thick lenses from the end table and handed them to their owner. "Put them on, but don't move after that. Remember, I have the upper hand."

Hojo complied. His eyes focused, and he realized that the metal object was indeed a knife. The hand holding it was thin and pale, and it seemed almost to glow in the dim light.

"You know who I am, correct?" asked the figure, his voice still a mere whisper.

"Yes. You are the young Shinra."

The knife slashed across Hojo's exposed shoulder. The Professor grasped his wound.

"You know better," hissed Rufus. He tapped the bloodied blade on the underside of Hojo's chin. "And I told you not to move." A second cut appeared on the back of the scientist's hand, almost a direct echo of the one on the shoulder beneath it. Instead of grasping the new injury, Hojo remained still.

"Good," said Rufus. "Now speak. I know you have questions." The knife tapped again under the Professor's chin.

"Why are you here?"

"Wrong question. You should already know the answer to that. Try again."

"What were the side-effects?"

"Good. That's the right question. You should already know about some of them: temporary blindness, deafness, loss of smell…"

"Yes. After that? After you recovered. What then?"

"You see, that's the problem. I may have recovered my senses, but not my strength, and I have a feeling that it's not coming back without some assistance. Give me the cure."

"There is no cure."

Another cut, this time perpendicular to the second. "Wrong answer. There's always a cure. It was you who made me strong, and you who took that away."

"I did that on order from your father. He said that you were becoming too strong, and on top of healing you from your wounds, I was to revert you to your natural state."

"And you obeyed? I thought that you didn't take orders."

"I took it as a challenge, not an order."

"For the name of science?"

"Yes."

The knife turned sideways and slid forward, its blade cutting into the soft flesh under Hojo's jaw, its point hovering precariously before his throat."

"I have no fear of death. You should know that." Each word drove the blade farther into his skin "I know something, too. I know that you can't kill me. You need the cure."

"Wasn't planning on it. That's not what you fear, _I_ know."

"Alright. Then tell me: What do I fear?"

"You fear the same thing that I do. You fear weakness. You _fear _losing your power. You _fear_ losing your influence."

Hojo was silent. His uninjured hand clenched the sheet it lay on.

"I may be weak, but I am still able to incapacitate you if you don't cooperate. I can make it so that you will never see another experiment. Would you like to know what it's like to be blind? I can show you. Or, I will just overlook the fact that you just moved and I will leave you to keep doing whatever the hell it is that you do to people if you find. me. the. cure," Rufus growled, pushing the knife farther into Hojo's tissue. "Or, rather, you just tell me where I can find it, and I will take my fill. I don't trust you enough to put myself under your _care_ again."

"My laboratory."

"Obviously. Where?"

"In my office. There is a pipe there, with a small faucet, just above my desk."

Rufus pulled the knife back. Blood ran down the Professor's chin to his chest. His shirt stained red. "A faucet? Do you expect me to reverse what you have done with water or some other meaningless substance? Do you think me so naïve as to…"

"Mako," Hojo interrupted. "If you don't believe me, then turn it on. You will see."

"Mako? You did this to me with Mako."

"And only Mako can take it away. It is a strange substance, Mako. It should be no wonder that it would be both the illness and the cure. Think about Materia. It is all made from Mako, but some heals, while another portion destroys."

"Fine. Say I believe you. What do I do with it? _Drink it from a cup?_"

"Patience, young Shinra. You are not thinking, and you are usually so bright."

Rufus' hand clenched around the knife pommel, and his knuckles shone even more white.

"There are small vials in the cabinet next to the faucet. Next to those are needles. Take only one syringe. They're too expensive for you to take more than that, and I've already used enough of them on you. Put the vials and your needle into a case. Inject the Mako directly into your bloodstream."

"How often, Aldous?"

Hojo glared.

"I thought so," Rufus sneered, a smug grin hiding in the shadows over his face. "You hate it, don't you, being called by your first name, like a _peer_." The blonde smiled wider as Hojo's glare deepened, his white teeth flashing like those of some strange creature. "It's all about influence," he echoed.

The scientist shook off Hojo's remarks, but his angry stare remained. "You are to take one dose approximately every four hours."

"For how long?"

"Until you are satisfied with the results."

Rufus turned, still talking to the man behind him. "If this doesn't work, you should think about being better prepared for our next meeting."

"I'll keep that in mind, Young Shinra."

The blonde laughed bitterly. "_Sleep tight, Aldous_." The door shut heavily behind him.

Hojo stood from his place on the bed and walked quickly to his bathroom. He cleaned and dressed his wounds, an odd smile on his face. "So nice of him to continue my experiments for me," spoke the scientist to his reflection in the mirror above his sink as he dabbed the blood from his shoulder.

* * *

'So strange,' Rufus thought as he watched the Mako run from the tiny faucet, 'how it flows, so like water, yet…' 

He dared to tempt the fates, holding his hand under the stream. It was warm and strange against his palm. Though it flowed off of his skin like any other liquid, it felt like nothing else. Rufus cupped his palm, catching a small pool of Mako there. It hardly felt as if he held anything at all.

"So strange," Rufus repeated, but this time his voice rang off of the concrete walls, "that _life_ itself would be so light."

The blonde let the green liquid run through his fingers. It left a faint, shiny residue on his hand. He moved his fingers, and his joints responded stiffly, like he had been clenching his fist. His skin burned a little with the memory of the heat of the planet.

The vials that Hojo had described were tiny, as was the syringe that accompanied them. Rufus filled as many as would fit in the foam-padded box that he pulled from that same cabinet. He held one last small jar under the faucet, and it filled quickly. He pulled the cap from the needle with his teeth.

One vial proved just enough to fill one dose.

The Vice President looked at the veins on his hand. No, he wanted something that would give faster results. He caught his reflection in the glass of a specimen jar. There. One vein shown out on the right side of his neck, blue and full of blood, so close to his brain; so close to his heart. The Mako would flow from there straight to that heart, where it would be pumped quickly throughout his entire body. Results would be almost instantaneous.

After all, that was where his doctor had always injected him with her special medications.

The needle pierced his flesh and the glowing Mako disappeared into his body. His eyes widened with an unexpected pain.

It burned.

He set the syringe down quickly in its case, not bothering to recap it. He leaned against the metal counter on which it sat, the fiery heat of the Mako making him suddenly feverish. His face flushed with the flames that licked the underside of his skin. His eyes smoldered with the warmth of the sun.

His mouth opened wide in the shape of a twisted and silent scream, though its corners curled slightly upwards.

But he could feel it. He could feel the fervor of sheer power coursing through his veins, so intense that it would strive to consume him and scorch him to ashes.

And Rufus laughed, the sweat running from his brow into his already stinging eyes.

* * *

"Rufus? You're finally awake?" asked Reno sleepily, stepping into the bathroom, four hours after the blonde's return from the laboratory. 

Rufus turned abruptly. A click echoed through the sink as his hand swiped something into it. His eyes remained averted from the redhead's gaze.

"What are you doing anyway? You're acting weird."

"Washing my face. I had a strange dream, and I was sweating in my sleep. You startled me."

"Okay, well you get back to that, then. I've gotta pee." Reno continued to stare at the blonde as he walked over to the toilet.

Rufus turned, his own gaze averted to the sink. He pushed the needle out of the way and turned the water on. He splashed some of it on his cheeks, which had begun to turn pink.

Reno could be heard whistling a few feet away, and it seemed like an eternity had passed before the casual tune ended and the redhead walked out of the restroom.

"Do you want something to eat? I noticed that you never had your take-out." called the redhead from outside.

"Uh…yeah. Sure," Rufus called back, turning the water off and drying his hands and face. "I'm going to stay in here for a little. I didn't realize how dirty I'd gotten until I had tried to clean up a bit. I need a shower."

"I'll call the café, okay? What do you want?"

"I don't care. Surprise me." Rufus shut the door and turned the shower on, but he didn't climb in.

"…Alright. Whatever you say." Reno picked up the phone and dialed. Staying in the apartment of the Vice President had its advantages. In-room delivery was one of them.

"_Oh, Mr. Vice President? I see you have returned? I hadn't heard the good news!_" rang the obnoxiously high voice of the man on the other end who had taken the place of ex-barkeep and café manager Malita Cunningham.

The call was distorted over the sound of the running water in the bathroom. Rufus sunk to the floor, his second dose of Mako heating up his body just as the first had. The cabinets clacked under the weight of his back.

The voices outside the room stopped.

"Are you alright in there?" asked Reno, holding the phone to his palm.

"Yes, I'm fine," came the reply, an audible breathiness in its tone. "I'm perfectly fine."

But Reno was naturally suspicious, and he finished the order quickly and hung up the phone. He stepped up to the restroom door as quietly as he could, opening it slowly.

The cabinets banged harder with Rufus' quick jerk of surprise. Reno looked down on the pathetic display below him. Rufus turned away.

"What are you doing?" Reno hissed.

"That's none of your business."

"Like hell it isn't. I'm supposed to be watching you. What are you trying to hide from me?"

"I said that it's none of your damn business, Reno. I'm old enough to take care of myself. I don't need you breathing down the back of my neck." Rufus' face remained turned to the floor.

"Then why so guilty? Why won't you even look at me?" Reno peered onto the counter. The needle sat there, far more innocently than its owner. "What is _this_? Is _this_ why you can't even have the courage to spare me a glance?"

Rufus clenched his left fist, but didn't speak.

"Look at me." Reno grabbed Rufus by the chin and forced his face toward him. "_Look at me._"

"There. Are you happy now?" Rufus said coldly, his gaze boring into Reno's pupils.

"…Mako." Reno let go of the blonde, turning away and leaning against the doorframe. "Why?"

"I am reclaiming my identity."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"The Mako is giving me my power back, and with it, my life." Rufus stood, and picked the syringe from its resting spot, drawing another vial from the case on the floor beside the sink.

Reno turned to him quickly. "What are you doing?"

"I don't think you understand. Do you? Do you see the necessity of this?"

"No. It's dangerous enough for a trained specialist to give Mako injections, let alone for somebody to give them to himself."

"It's in doses, Reno. I forced Hojo to tell me how to do this." Rufus filled the syringe with a new dose.

"Hojo. Great. That makes this a _whole _lot better." The redhead moved to take the needle from the blonde.

Rufus easily broke the grasp, and jabbed the needle's point into the neck of his lover. Reno recoiled, dropping to his knees as his blood began to heat up.

"What have you done to me, Rufus?"

"I've given you a taste of what it feels like to truly _live_."

Reno grasped his neck, letting out a short shriek. "_What have you done?_"

"Can't you feel it, Reno?" Rufus crawled forward, his eyes meeting those of the other man as they morphed slowly from green to a bright aqua.

"Why does it burn so much?"

"It's pure, unlike what they give the SOLDIERs. It's undiluted, straight from the ground."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Shh…" Rufus placed one finger against Reno's lips to quiet him. The blue-green eyes widened in shock as the ice-blue ones before them turned to slits.

Reno's muscles tightened. Yes, he could feel it now, so strong, so strange, so enlivening. he could feel the energy of the Mako course through his blood, like he had taken the strength of the dead and claimed it as his own.

But, already, Rufus could feel his dosage starting to wane. Soon after, the intensity of Reno's followed suit. The glow in both of their eyes faded slightly. The reminiscence of pain was overshadowed by the memory of power.

"More," was all that Reno said, falling back onto the floor and staring at the ceiling, his vision clouded over slightly with his quickly vanishing rapture. A smile formed on the lips of the blonde.

"The dosage is one injection every four hours. You wouldn't want to do something as dangerous as double-dosing, now would you?" Rufus said, his tone teasing as he stretched out over the redhead, their two bodies fitting perfectly against one another from the experience and recollection of their skin's touch.

"Screw you."

"We've been doing that a little much lately, don't you think?"

"Hmm," Reno smiled, his chest vibrating with the hum of the contented sound.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Room service," Reno whispered, his breath warm over Rufus' cheeks.

"Come in. The door is unlocked." The Vice President didn't bother to move from his place.

"They'll see us."

"I know. Do I look like I care?"

A thin woman with a chest large enough to have kept the customers after the death of two of the café's most popular employees stepped into the room with a bag of food. She looked down at the two figures on the carpet with a squeak.

"Sir…Sirs, where do you want me to put this?"

"Leave it there," purred Rufus, not looking up.

The woman made a remarkably speedy exit.

"There will be rumors," said Reno.

"There already are."

"Food," he said, changing subjects.

"Yes, food."

* * *

Miya: Well, so Rufus' finally getting some food in his stomach, eh? Maybe that's why he felt so weak? (Just kidding.) Don't know when the next chapter's coming, so don't expect it too soon. Spring break's about to end, so my schedule's going to get hectic again.


	18. I Remember Your Eyes

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 18: I Remember Your Eyes

Miya's Note: Again, I apologize for the long, long,_ LONG_ wait I put all of you through. I was writing at school when I could, but really didn't get a chance to do that much typing. I had to prepare for AP testing and work on signing up for college.

If you thought that Rufus was creepy in Chapter 17 (Which I don't get. He was much scarier in earlier chapters, like 14, I thought.), wait until you see him here. Give a man who's already a bit of an egomaniac the power trip of a lifetime, and mix that with the fact that he's unstable from having just gone through such a…traumatic experience.

You see my point, I'm sure.

I have a feeling some things in this Ch. are going to freak out/anger a few people, so I just thought I'd give a little F.Y.I. It's really…different. On the other hand, I think there's been another nice boost in my writing quality. Again, like with past chapters, though, excuse any typos. At this moment, it is 3:26 AM, so I'm sure there are mistakes.

To Squal D. Zolo: Haha, thanks! That's an awful lot to read in one day! You're lucky you read it when you did, though, because of the long time it took to update. Your wait wasn't nearly as long as some peoples'.

To kyoto19: I felt so proud! I KNEW it was you, I did! Thanks a bunch. hug

To Shiri Matakami: Thanks for your review! It's all of you people that keep me writing, no matter how hard it takes for me to actually do it! Oh, and you probably shouldn't give me a cookie (though I do love them), since it took me so long to update!

To Tarshil: Awww, thanks. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! (It's hard to believe that this is the same person "talking" who's writing this story, with some of the goofy things I say, isn't it?) I'm actually not planning on becoming a writer, though. I'm actually going into acting, which has been my passion since I was 8. I'm making a video game, too, which I am writing the story for, so that's the closest I'll get, probably. I've mentioned this quite a few times before, but you can find my pics, including the Rufus one, which is on the front page, at my site at deviantart, which is miyamashi . deviantart . com, minus the spaces.

To Angevar: When you make that cloning machine, I want a Rufus, kay? Glad I could draw in another cultist (to the cult of Runoism, if you don't know). XD

To Corkykiggs: Oooh, I hope I didn't drive you too insane with the wait! And if you can't look at Rufus the same after the last chapter….oh dear. shifty eyes

* * *

It wasn't the Mako, Rufus thought, as he slid the needle painfully into his neck once more, but what the Mako did to him. Like any drug, it wasn't the substance itself, but the effects.

And, oh, the effects were grand. Such power, he could feel, coursing through his very veins. Oh, so much power, so much that it threatened to consume him; brought him to the very threshold of his own self-annihilation.

Reno was beside him, plastic fork still in his mouth from dinner. The Turk had already had his third shot. Three shots in less than an hour. The supply was running low. It was difficult to tell if the redhead was enjoying the Mako or the food more. His eyes were glazed over in ecstasy, a look that, as far as the blonde had ever seen, only he himself could bring forth from the man.

It angered him, that he was either equal to food or some inhuman liquid.

Rufus' fourth dose began to take it's toll on his body and mind. Emotions raged within him, a side-effect of his addiction.

"You are _mine_, not the Mako's," Rufus said coldly to Reno.

"But _you _are the Mako's," replied Reno with a self-satisfied chuckle. It wasn't just the power he enjoyed, but the clarity, like the whole world was beneath him, in a snow globe, staring up at him as he looked down upon it, occasionally shaking it to remind everyone where they stood in comparison to him. On the other hand, while Reno's logic was becoming more acute, Rufus' was losing grasp, and the redhead could see it.

It was terrifying, that a man with so much power would begin to lose the control he spent his whole life trying to build.

Rufus could feel it, too, Reno guessed, by the way the man sat on his own bed like a nervous adolescent, rubbing his hands together so hard that they were beginning to grow pink and raw. Strange, how Rufus always reverted back to his childhood when he lost his grasp on the world.

The blonde could feel it, yes, how his senses burned with this new stimulus; how his whole body seemed to work independently from his mind. Again, he was losing himself to a foreign source. Bullets, Mako, _Reno_, always trying to pull him away from his cold kingdom of influence. This stuff would be his savior and his ruin; this, and the thin redhead on the bed in front of him.

He thought back to his earlier statement. Reno wasn't his. No, Reno would never be his. Reno would always and forever have him wrapped around his little finger, like some sort of puppet. Reno owned the world, the Mako, him, and, most importantly, himself. Reno had complete control, even in moments of most utter impulsiveness. Even as the Turk seemed erratic and unpredictable, he was meticulous in his spontaneity. Looking at him now, the redhead seemed to lose something in his moment of rare composure.

And it frightened the blonde. His hands would have hurt from the even more brutal assault he laid upon them, had his skin not already been burning.

Rufus plucked the fork from Reno's mouth, sticking it into his own and mutilating it with his teeth. He sat back on his headboard in a pouty kind of way that made him seem even more juvenile.

"Your fork is broken," said the blonde, holding it up a bit pitifully. The white plastic prongs all pointed in different directions, like the heads of a hydra.

"So I see."

"I killed it."

Reno just stared for a moment, not sure of how to react to this oddly dark, uncharacteristically impractical remark.

"Now, its life is mine, like my own will never be. I took it and claimed it as my own."

This sent a chill down Reno's spine, despite the fact that the blonde was talking about an eating utensil.

"I killed it. It is mine. I control it because it is the dead."

"Rufus, stop. Do you realize what you're saying? It's insane."

"No, Reno. I control it. _I control it._"

"Rufus, stop this."

"I'll control you, too, someday, when you're dead like it is, but only then."

Reno paled. What was Rufus talking about. Would he go as far as to…?

"Kill you? Do you think I'm going to kill you, Reno?"

The redhead shivered. "I don't know."

"Not yet. Not now. Not unless I have to. Not unless…until, perhaps, you give me a reason…until you gain complete control over me. Then, I have to take it back. You understand, right Reno?"

"What the hell is wrong with you? I don't control…"

"You have me in chains, Reno! My shackles are at your feet. Do you hear the chains as they clatter on the floor before you?" Rufus' hand began to shake, and he flung the fork in it at the redhead's chest. It bounced off harmlessly and landed on the sheets.

"What has it done to you?" Reno asked in almost a whisper, breaking free of the Mako's hold upon him, though his head still reeled with the force of the overdose.

"I…can't do it, Reno. I can't take it any longer. Even now, you control me, and the more you do, the more I lose myself to you. I _gave _myself away. I sold my soul to you, and you devoured it."

"I didn't…"

"I can't even bring myself to kill you, the only form of control I have left…not now…no, not ever."

"Why would you even think like this? What is wrong with you? Have you gone nuts?"

"I can't…I couldn't even hurt you. I…" Rufus consumed Reno's mouth in his own, in a way, trying to reclaim his lost self.

But to him, it seemed as if Reno succeeded where he failed, sucking more of it away.

It wasn't a kiss. It was a conquest. If Rufus couldn't take his own soul back, he would steal Reno's. If he couldn't have the other man's life, he would have his identity. Yes, if he couldn't have himself, he would have _him_, and he, now no longer Rufus, but Reno, would have the power.

Only, a paperweight from the end table slammed into the back of his head, and he fell limply on the mattress and the other man.

"I'm sorry, Rufus."

* * *

When Rufus awoke a mere ten minutes later, he found himself tied to the posts of his own bed, his head throbbing.

"How do you feel?" asked Reno.

"That's a stupid question, you little bastard. Untie me, now."

"No. I can't do that until the Mako is out of your system. Do you have your strength back?"

"I don't _know_, Reno. Untie me, and we'll see."

"No."

Rufus flailed around in the ropes, thrashing upward with his head like a deranged man brought back to his most primal roots. This was the second stage of his addiction. As he lost control, Rufus seemed to drop further and further into the past, first to his own childhood, and then to the childhood of all mankind, where little distinction remained between him and the animals.

"_Untie me._"

"No, Rufus, and I'll say it again."

"Remember what I said earlier, about not being able to kill you? I think I could manage now."

"And that'll get me to let you go?"

"That doesn't matter, Reno. Now, it is the time to see if my strength has yet returned." Rufus' body tightened. His arms and legs began to shake as he pulled hard on the cords. They cut deeply into his ankles and wrists.

And, to Reno's sudden horror, the ropes began to fray.

And they snapped. First, went the ones holding his hands. His arms crossed over his chest as he continued to pull on the others. They proved just as weak in comparison to the beast they had tried to tether.

"You should have used stronger rope," Rufus growled as he stood from the bed, the cords still dangling from his body.

"Stop this. You have to stop this." Reno backed from the blonde. Rufus pinned him against the wall, boring into his eyes with his own.

"I don't take orders from you, Reno."

"This isn't like you. Submission was your freedom once…"

"Not now. Not anymore. I had my taste of subservience. It was fun for a moment, but fun never lasts in this place, does it?"

"It can. It would if you would only let it."

"Nothing lasts. Not even _you_."

"Stop…"

"Not even _me_."

Reno pushed hard against the blonde, and he stumbled back. Rufus dashed forward again, pinning the other man once more. Again, Reno pushed him easily away. "You may have your strength back, but I never lost mine, and the Mako is as fresh in my blood as yours. You may be strong, but I am stronger."

Rufus' eyes widened in a terrible rage. Reno grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against the wall in place of where he had once been.

"You may want the control, but I have it. _I control you._ You're right, you'll never have power over me, Rufus, unless I give it to you, like you did for me, or until the day I die."

"Let me go."

"No, Rufus, not until you calm down."

"Just _let me go_." Rufus' muscles went lax. The child inside of him once again rose to the surface. "Stop it. Stop it!"

"No."

"Stop…stop it…" Rufus' head fell back, his energy spent.

"Not until you find yourself again."

"What is there to find?" Rufus slid down the wall, Reno's hand following, until the redhead simply let go. Rufus looked up toward him, his eyes wide and sparkling with wetness, like the ice in them was melting away. "There is nothing…nothing left…"

Reno just looked down at him. He felt pity for Rufus, pity that had come perhaps too soon.

The redhead fell backwards, his head hitting the carpet as the blonde pulled Reno's knees out from under him with his right leg. Rufus pounced on him, looking down into his eyes with a feral grin.

"You're mine now."

"You could have just asked, you know!" The redhead dug his fingers into Rufus' shoulders and flipped their positions.

It didn't last. The Vice President's legs wrapped around the other man's waist, and the two flipped once again.

And again, as Reno grabbed hold of the ropes still around Rufus' wrists.

Again, flip. Punch. Recoil.

Snarl. Each beast brought the other to the surface. And scratch. Nail marks appeared across the redhead's cheek, just under one scar.

So Reno scratched back. The marks on Rufus' cheek mirrored his own. "What the hell is wrong with you, Rufus? What are you trying to accomplish?"

Rufus pushed Reno off of him with his knees. "Don't you understand, Reno?"

"How can I?" Reno yelled, backing up quickly before Rufus had a chance to stand. "This is unbelievable! This is absolutely fucking unbelievable!"

Rufus began to yell back, louder than the other man. "No, Reno! I know exactly what I'm doing." Yelling was suddenly replaced by a panicked hush. "Don't you see that I'm trying to push you away?"

"Why? Just…why, Rufus? What did I do to you that you want me to go away so damn much? You're always telling me to leave. 'Leave, Reno,' you say, as if I'm some dirty mutt. 'Please, just leave,' you tell me. _Why_?"

"Because _you _are the only person in this world that I fear."

Reno was incredulous. "Fear _me_? You have no reason to fear anybody, especially not me. You have all the power in the world, right there. I'm just some slum trash who can't fire a gun to save my skin. I got into the Turks by blackmailing Tseng. And you…you _fear_ me?"

"Fear has nothing to do with the power that I have. The only power I have comes from my position. You, on the other hand, have a kind of power that I can't fathom. It has nothing to do with money, guns, or this corporation. All of it comes from something that you have and I do not. You have a way of changing a man and turning him into something different--something not quite himself--, and he becomes lost within his own territory. Everything that was familiar to him becomes strange and wild and brutal. Everything that he thought that he could trust becomes unstable. He becomes insecure."

"And I did this to you? I changed you and everything around you by just…by just…" His sentence trailed off into a stunned silence that was broken by Rufus' whisperings as the blonde stood beside him, tentatively entangling his fingers in the hair on the back of the Turk's neck.

"That's why I wanted to kill you, because you were doing this to me. You didn't even know what you had done to me, and that's why…" The blonde brushed his lips against Reno's ear. "…that's why I couldn't do it; why I can't bring myself to hate you, can't hurt you…can't…can't…"

Reno could say nothing but "I…I don't…" as he backed farther away. The wall caught him off guard and he jumped slightly as he hit it.

"What else can you call that but fear?"

"What is it about me that you're so afraid of?"

Rufus slammed his hand against the white plaster beside Reno's head. "I don't know! I don't _know_, Reno!" That hand began to shake next to the redhead's marred cheek. "I don't know…"

"I don't see what I've done. I haven't done anything wrong to you."

Rufus turned away, throwing his hand to his side. "I think, maybe, it's that you have something of mine, something I can't describe. It's something that I'm afraid of losing, and if I lose you, it goes with you. I'm afraid of losing that…something…forever."

"So, why do you want me to leave? I don't get it."

"I think that the only way to stop being afraid is to face that fear. If you go, I will have lost you and that whatever the hell it is that I'm so frightened of losing. Then, I will have nothing to lose, and nothing to fear."

"If you don't have fear, you stop being human."

"That's the thing. I don't want to _be_ human anymore. My humanity means my mortality."

"So you are afraid of dying, after all."

"No. I am not afraid of death, don't you see? I'm afraid of life. Living is so much harder…" Ice eyes implored to the sea. "You can't make mistakes in death."

"I'm still confused. Are you scared of your humanity, or of losing it?"

Rufus looked past Reno, immersed in thought. "Both, maybe. I guess that is my something."

"This explains a lot."

"Yes. Yes, I guess it does."

"I can't leave, you know."

"I can't comprehend why. I don't even see why you would want to be here in the first place."

"I don't either."

"Why would anyone wish this upon himself?"

"I don't know."

Rufus managed a small semblance of what seemed to be a smile. It only lasted an instant. "So, you don't know why you're here any more than I do."

"Nope."

"Maybe it's fear."

"Maybe."

"You do me no good by staying, you know."

"That doesn't change anything. Who knows? Maybe you'll thank me later."

"I doubt that."

"I hate it when you get like this. I can't even believe that you could kill somebody, looking at you now. You look more suicidal than murderous. It's pathetic."

"If I'm so pathetic…"

"Don't finish that statement. Look at yourself."

Rufus looked at Reno instead. "I don't want to see it." The blonde gave a droopy-eyed glare, the whites of his eyes shot through with lightening bolts of blood.

Reno placed his hands on Rufus' shoulders. "I don't care. You have to face your fears, remember?" The redhead cracked a grin in attempts to release some of his own tension. "If it makes you feel any better, you're lookin' a little like the walking dead right now."

Rufus failed to laugh, and Reno's smile melted. The grip on Rufus' shoulders broke as the blonde walked into the bathroom. "Fine," said the blonde. "You want me to look, so I will."

Reno winced as he heard the sound of shattering glass. He stepped into the bathroom, ready to restrain the blonde, who remained standing like a statue just inches in front of him, if the need arose. "What happened?"

"I looked at it."

This comment sounded positively absurd to the redhead, who found himself looking down at the other man's hands. There was no sign of blood or broken glass upon them. "That doesn't explain why it shattered."

"Yes it does."

"How?"

"My fear. The Mako tried to destroy my fear."

Reno had to stop himself from backing away.

"And without fear," Rufus whispered, his voice hissing like steam through a burst pipe, "you become nothing. You start to lose that influence."

Reno lost the will to stand still, and he took one step back. Rufus clenched a hand around the redhead's shoulder, using the other to shut the door behind him. The blonde made a clicking with his tongue--a calm "Tsk, tsk" that clashed with the tortured thoughts that Reno knew lay inside that calculating mind--and picked the needle slowly from the sink.

Reno saw a moment of opportunity and snatched one of the last two Mako vials, knocking the other one on the floor to burst and spread its contents on the already precariously coated tiles. The grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Give it to me, Reno," said Rufus, his clenching hand the only obvious indication of his true anger.

"No, Rufus."

"I need it, Reno."

"No, you don't. Plus, believe me when I say that I'm not just protecting you by doing this." Reno held the vial behind his back, popping the top from it. The small clink it created as it hit the floor caused Rufus to push the Turk back into the door. The knob dug into the small curve of Reno's spine, but the hand which held the tiny jar remained mostly free. "And if you think I'm going to let the walking materia gain even more power, you're even more mistaken."

"Don't defy me, Reno!" Rufus' words cut like a knife, straight into the deepest recesses of Reno's mind.

The redhead could imagine his skull shattering into so many pieces as the mirror that lay scattered under his feet. He could imagine his blood mingling with the Mako that covered that silvery glass. He could imagine himself as nothing more than another decimated object of Rufus' fears, and this was a thought that he couldn't stand to let come alive.

He had to save himself.

The Mako slid hotly down Reno's throat as one swift movement of the hand brought glass to his lips. The burning liquid threatened to tear his body apart just as Rufus' frigid gaze threatened his mind.

The blonde struck Reno in the side of the face, angry tears running down his own face. He grabbed the Turk by the throat and slammed him back into the door again. The wood splintered.

Reno didn't even have to move to cause the blonde to fly backwards. Rufus' legs caught the edge of the tub as he flew, and his head hit first against the tile wall behind it. The faucet caught him in the back as he fell.

Reno saw a fading image of Rufus sinking into the bathtub as he collapsed forward.

Rufus groaned, his back and head throbbing. He crawled from the tub, not looking as he set his hands upon the tile. Shards of glass pierced his palms.

He stood slowly, crouching over slightly from his injury. He had experienced far worse before, and found it fairly easy to simply ignore the aches that spanned his figure. Rufus began to walk from the bathroom, simply moving Reno out of the way with his foot to open the door.

But he couldn't get more than a few steps past the threshold.

"Why did you collapse?" Rufus asked aloud to the unmoving form behind him. "Was it my Mako or yours?"

He tried to walk again, but his feet failed to respond, as if they were set in concrete.

"If I leave you there, I risk your dying. But isn't that what I want? Don't I want my fear to end, Reno?"

Rufus broke free and took one step away.

"So why? Why is it so hard to just walk away?"

The second step didn't come.

"You have to die for me."

The blonde's body turned, denying its master's wishes to continue walking away.

"If you die, my humanity dies with you."

Rufus took one step forward, toward the redhead.

"Why can't I let it?"

One dash forward, and Reno was halfway off the ground, suspended by the hair in Rufus' grasp.

"Why won't you _die_?" With the last word, the blonde slammed Reno's head against the pristine marble counter. Blood marred the surface. Rufus pulled back, prepared to strike again, but his arm remained in the air, shaking. With a yell, and with a few stray tears of frustration sliding down his cheeks like sweat, Rufus flung Reno to the carpet just outside the bathroom door. He knelt down beside him, covering the slightly open mouth and the bony nose of the Turk with his hand.

That hand sprung back as if recoiling from a hot surface.

"I…I can't!" Rufus cried out, gripping Reno's upper arms and shaking him. It was impossible to tell if the blonde was trying to wake him or destroy him. Reno's head fell limply to the side, and Rufus could do nothing but stare down upon him.

His eyes wide with a visible fear and his mind screaming loudly in protest against, Rufus Shinra cupped shaking fingers around the cheeks of Reno Kiribani as if possessed. A faint green light surrounded his hands. Ice eyes closed in concentration.

The light became blinding, and Rufus screamed loudly enough to block out the sound of footsteps and an opening door. His spine arched back as the Mako sapped most of what strength remained in his body.

The Vice President broke contact with the redhead as his crude cure spell made him too weak to carry on, and the light faded and disappeared.

Reno didn't move, and Rufus dropped his head, the sound one makes when he knows he has failed hissing through his teeth. He hadn't killed Reno until the moment he had tried to save him.

"What did you do?" boomed a deep voice in announcement of another presence in the room. Rufus' head snapped to the side to face its owner.

Rude punched Rufus in the nose.

To Rude's surprise, the blonde reacted very calmly to the assault. He simply turned fully toward his assailant, still on his knees, and spread his arms out sideways, leaving his body completely vulnerable.

"Do it. Spare me this life and take it," said Rufus, his voice distorted from the blood running from his nose.

"What did you do?"

"I killed him."

Rude stared down at him, refusing to give him the death that he wanted. After all, "How do you expect me to kill a dead man? Reno said that you were shot and killed by the President."

"I lived that time, long enough to commit a murder of my own."

Rude could say nothing, his hands shaking slightly at the sight of his best friend's body on the floor before him. He had seen something strange from the room just moments before he entered. There had been a light coming through the crack under the door. Had he been witness to a power that could kill…had killed? If he had been there moments earlier, could he have saved Reno? Would Rufus had taken his life instead?

"What? What's that?" Rufus whispered.

Rude gawked at him, dumbfounded.

"I can't. You don't want that. Even if you did, I don't think I have the power to…"

Rude suddenly realized that Rufus wasn't talking to him as the blonde hunched over and grasped his hair.

"No…not that. No, it's a fate worse than death. I can't let you experience this. I was only trying to…Yes, yes, I know. You're right…I'm lying to you. So many lies…but you are better off there. I wish I had been granted that same freedom."

"Who…who the hell are you talking to?" Rude managed to stammer. His words fell thickly on the air, but faded quickly into nothingness.

"I know I can't. But, if I grant you this, you will be trapped in this life as I am."

Rufus turned slowly toward the lanky and unmoving figure of the redhead that lay sprawled out on the carpet.

"I'm sorry, Reno. I will do it. I'm sorry. But are you sure this is what you want, or are you just doing this because of her wishes?"

Rufus nodded solemnly, his eyes closing in contemplation as he crawled slowly across the floor to the body, placing his hands on its lithe chest. His breath caught in his throat, and was finished by a gasp from Reno. Rufus' body shook. Rude couldn't tell if it was from pain or tearless sobs. The blonde stared at the light in the ceiling, his teeth clenched and his fingers still laying on Reno's skin as it rose and fell with renewed breathing.

"So you can do it…" said Reno, his voice cracking.

"Why did you agree to this?"

"Your ma said that I had more to teach you. I don't know what she meant, but I thought it was kind of weird. I was curious. Plus, it was a bit creepy out there. She looks like you, you know that?"

"She looked like me, Reno. Not now. Not anymore. What you saw was just a projection of what she was before."

"You still can't look at me?" Reno tried to sit up, but realized that Rufus' hold was strong for the blonde's condition. He laid back, the color slowly returning to his skin. His lips remained gray and dry.

"How?" Rude stammered, his voice breaking Reno from his trance.

"There are a lot of things you don't get, Rude," said the normally fiery Turk in a rare bout of sagely wisdom. "I don't expect you to leave this room with the answers you want. Please, leave. I need to talk to him."

"No. He almost killed you, Reno."

"And this is my life to keep or to throw away."

Rude wanted to say something--anything--to convince Reno to break free from Rufus and exact revenge upon the blonde. But Rude knew Reno well enough to tell that there was nothing that he could do but walk out of Rufus' apartment door.

The click of the latch signaled Reno that it was safe to speak to Rufus. "Thank you for doing this. I know how much you didn't want to.

"I am assuming that what you said to Rude applies to me as well."

Reno didn't have to respond to that. "What are you looking at?"

"I am watching the end of eternity."

"You're staring at the ceiling."

"Look at it, Reno. This is what you wanted, right?"

Reno looked at the light and almost screamed. "Turn it off, Rufus."

"This is what you asked me to do."

"Turn it off."

"Then what, Reno? Turn off all of the lights in Midgar? Turn off all of the lights in the world? You can't stop it. This is what I am going to live to watch over one day. How would you feel if you knew that it was you who was responsible for this?"

Reno stared in horror, his mouth slowly forming the words "It would make me want to die."

"This is what life means to people like us. It means that, every day, we witness the end of death."

"Oh gods, they're burning, Rufus. Turn it off."

"That is what I will be some day. One day, I will die, and my soul will burn like theirs are, in payment for the legacy of my family."

"No, if you die, I'll bring you back, just like you did for me."

"I'd rather have it end."

"How could you do this to me, Rufus? How could you?"

"I didn't want to bring you back, Reno!" Rufus screamed, finally looking down at the redhead. One thin hand flailed through the air, and the bulb shattered.

"But you killed me…what makes you think I wanna burn?"

"Don't you want this to stop? Existence only breeds pain. Even after death, you retain your emotions, your regrets, and your failures. The short pain of ending that all would be nothing compared to that of what came before it."

Reno pushed Rufus' hands from his chest and sat up. "Don't start this 'I'm trying to give you freedom' bullshit, Rufus. You did this for yourself. You couldn't take the pressure of actually _caring _for somebody for once, so you just thought you'd make it go away. You just thought you'd act like it never existed."

Rufus looked down at the dark floor, and his lips closed and opened slowly. The blonde swallowed some saliva and a bit of blood that had dripped into his mouth from his nose. "I wanted to give you…everything I wanted for myself."

"More lies. Can you go one minute without lying to me? You wanted control that you couldn't have because you couldn't be Mr. Ice Cube to me. Well, guess what: You got your wish."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you see, I'm stuck in a bit of a sticky situation now. I made a promise to a dead woman to stay with you and teach you some kind of amazing life lesson. Plus, now I'm stuck with this…thing that makes me see all the other dead people going up in flames, and you're the only other person who understands that and'll believe what the hell I'm talking about. So, yeah, you have control of me now, you fucking egomaniac. What else should I know about being undead? You might as well tell me now. Break the ice. It's a great conversation starter."

"You're not undead, Reno," Rufus said as he stood, putting as much distance as he could between himself and the redhead, his back turned toward the other man and his forehead against the far wall. At any other moment, it may have been funny to Reno that Rufus tripped and stumbled on the way.

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call this? How about 'formerly dead' or 'living, but not quite.' Do those sound better? Less like zombies and more like zombies with class."

"You are very much alive, Reno. Never doubt that. In fact, you are farther from death than you have ever been. You defied the Lifestream, and it's not going to take you back without a fight. You had better not have any regrets, because you cannot comprehend how much harder it is to die when you have done it once before."

"I'm assuming you know this from personal experience. How many times have you tried to die and failed?"

"Enough."

"That's why you're so cranky, isn't it. That's why you have to kill everybody else, because you're so pissed that you can't off yourself. You need to stop taking out your problems on everybody else." Reno stood and stepped up behind the blonde, guided by the occasional flashes of light from the sparking bulb. "Especially me, because I'm not going to just stand here and let you do this to me." He pushed Rufus into the wall. The Vice President gasped when the impact further fractured his nose. "Who revived you anyway? Maybe they should have just let you stay dead. You would have been much happier as a ball of burning Mako, and the world probably would have been a much nicer place."

"It was Hojo, but it was Mother who convinced him to do it."

"So this is all _her_ doing. All of it. That bitch just causes us all sorts of trouble, doesn't she?"

Rufus turned and just thinly resisted hitting Reno across the head another time. "Shut up!"

"You're so touchy when it comes to her, aren't you? What made you such a momma's boy?"

"_Shut up._"

"You make me sick…" Reno began to beat pitifully against Rufus' chest. "You make me so…fucking…sick…why am I still here?"

"Here?"

"In your room…why can't I just walk away from you?"

"The same reason I tried to save you one moment too late."

"I wish none of this had ever happened. I can't even remember what it was like to just…live."

Rufus tentatively placed a hand in the small of Reno's back and rested his chin on the top of the other man's head. Reno, to his surprise, didn't respond at all. "Don't think like that. Eight years of thoughts like that are what drove me to this. Regret is what drives a man mad. I don't want you to become like me."

"How did you die?"

"I bled out from a shot wound to the shoulder at point blank."

Reno had a sudden sense of déjà vu. He had talked to Rufus about this before. "Your father killed you, didn't he?"

"Yes. It was just after he had Mother shot in the forehead. Did you know it was a Turk who killed her? He was the best of the best, but I was the one who got rid of him. He killed Mother at Father's order. I tried to kill Father. Father killed me, but, before I died, took me to have a Mako treatment from the only man who knew enough about the subject to do anything with it. It still wasn't enough. Mother revived a grudge in Hojo through his dead wife that convinced him to try something desperate. Something in Hojo allowed him to bring me back, and that is something that I have now, too. He asked me a favor that would indebt him to me forever. I was to bring him the Turk. It's a vicious cycle, is it not?"

Though he was still angry, Reno couldn't help but have fleeting thoughts that Rufus was justified in his actions. It was a frightening notion to pity a man who seemed to pity no one but himself. Reno wondered if he was also falling into that same pattern? Would he be driven mad by simply being alive while others perished?

"Are you alright?" asked Rufus, faint traces of hope in his voice.

"No."

"No…how could you be? You were right. Maybe Father was right, too. Maybe the world would have been better off if I had never been born in the first place, or if I had been truly killed that day."

Reno stepped back and looked into the face of what he could see of Rufus through his slowly adjusting eyes. "I need to know something."

"What is it?"

The redhead placed his fingers on the blonde's lips. "I need to know if this is the same." Reno's fingers slid back, across Rufus' jawline and up his cheek. A slight tug was all that it took to drive the blonde to lean forward slowly.

The kiss was like a memory of the first time Reno had truly gotten close to Rufus. It spoke of tears already cried, blood already shed, lives already lived. It was short, but it was enough to remember, for a moment, what had driven them there in the first place. This fact alone made it the most painful thing that Reno had ever done, because it meant an end to memories. One life had ended for Reno and another had begun.

"I want to show you something." said Rufus.

"What?"

"There is one last thing that living again does to a man." The blonde walked slowly to the bathroom, kneeling down to the cabinet and pulling out a light bulb to replace the one that had burst with the one in the bedroom. Not caring that the glass of the spent bulb added even more cuts to his already ragged and bloody hands, Rufus changed the light and it flickered to life, showering the two men with the glow of existence in flames. "Come. Look at yourself," he said, picking up the largest shard he could find of the broken mirror.

Reno complied, looking into his own eyes. They were an even lighter shade of aquamarine than before, and they shown with a strange kind of cold glow that didn't seem entirely human. They were similar to Rufus' in their crystalline sparkle, but not altogether the same. Rufus' still managed to seem more icy, hardened by the pain of his burdens. Reno's, at least, could pass for normal Mako eyes if one didn't look too deeply into them.

"Do you see it?"

"Yes, my eyes?"

Rufus nodded. "To truly see, you have to sacrifice. The Lifestream marked you, very much like it did to me, but it's brand doesn't seem as cruel on you. You're lucky." Rufus turned the redhead toward him. "But I remember your eyes; how they truly are. I will always remember. I know I should forget. I know I told you to start over, but it is already too late for me."

"How they _were,_ Rufus."

"Those aren't your eyes, Reno. That's not you. I forgot what mine looked like. I forgot who I truly am. I'll never let that happen to you."

Reno dropped the shard of glass to the ground and let it join back up with its comrades. He nodded and walked out Rufus' apartment door to meet with his. The blonde stayed standing where he was and voiced no complaint.

* * *

"Are you alright?" asked Rude in an attempt at being comforting as he and his fellow Turk walked down the halls of the Shinra Electric Power Company.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Rufus. No."

"Did he do anything else to you?"

"No."

"What did you have to talk about with the man who tried to kill you?"

Reno didn't bother to correct his friend. "You don't need to know that. That's something I need to carry by myself."

"Tseng wants to fire you, you know."

"Great. That's comforting."

"I actually think I may be starting to agree with him--maybe not about firing you, but at least giving you a very, very long vacation."

"I don't need a vacation. I'll start work again tomorrow."

"You've already taken a vacation, Reno, and I just think that you should maybe think about making that a bit longer. You're unstable. You have to be if you keep running to that psychopath."

"I was assigned to take care of Rufus by the President. I wasn't skipping work with him."

Rude scowled from behind his sunglasses. "I find that hard to believe."

"If you had been in there with him, there would be a lot of things you would have a harder time believing than that."

"I thought you said that he was dead."

"I was wrong. He's a lot harder to kill than you'd think."

"How do you know? Did you try it or something?"

"No. That was his job, remember? I was the one who was being killed, not him."

"You don't sound nearly as angry as you should." Rude stepped in front of Reno and stopped. The redhead tried to walk around him, but it was easy for the larger man to block his path. "Don't tell me you've somehow gone and fallen in some kind of twisted love with him."

"No. There is no one in this world strong enough to love that man." That firmly ended the conversation. Reno forcefully shoved past Rude and kept walking. Whatever the bald Turk had said after was ignored.

* * *

"Reno, I have some bad news," stated Tseng solemnly as he recovered from the shock of seeing the man he'd thought missing or dead walk into his office.

"I know, boss. Rude told me you're gonna fire me." The redhead sat on the edge of his boss' desk and fiddled with some papers that were stacked neatly beside him.

"Reno, I can't allow you to just not show up for work and endanger…"

Reno interrupted him. "Yeah, yeah, save it. I'm not going to explain where I've been the past couple of days. If you want to know, ask Rude. He didn't believe me, so I doubt you will either. As for firing me, I could care less. I'm working, whether I'm officially working for you or not. The only way to stop me is to kill me, but that one's already been tried today and it didn't last. So, I guess you're stuck with me." Reno forced a smirk and shrugged haphazardly.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing much. Just a bunch life-changing crap that I barely understand and that you damn well won't because they didn't happen to you. So, what's my next mission, boss?"

* * *

Miya's Note: Well, I hope that was worth the wait! It feels great to have finally finished this chapter. After this, 16 seemed like a cake walk to write. I knew what I wanted, but wording it was the problem. Plus, I was really busy, since school was ending. Now, I have a job that's starting on Thursday. I still hope 19 won't take as long to get to you guys as this one. Sorry again.


	19. The Inability to Forget

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 19:The Inability To Forget

Miya's Note: Again, I've pulled a switch. Where Chapter 18 was nothing but angst, 19 begins with some very goofy parts. I have to break it up a little bit, you know. It's not going to be as lighthearted all the way through as 13, but it's enough to put a refreshing pause to all the dark stuff that's been going on.

To Mikie: Hey Mikie! Thanks for the review, and for all of the members you roped into my cult of Runoism! Bwaha!

To blue daemon: Nope, I haven't abandoned BAU! I don't think I could ever abandon BAU! I dream friggin' storyline parts…Oh, and I'm still trying to get my head around where it all CAME from. I swear, my muses just pull crap outta their butts.

To corkykiggs: Don't worry. I speak to inanimate objects all. the. time. Seriously. My computer has a name. Her name is Eva. She is the evil bastard child of Hal. Oh, and I pretty much get what you were saying about Rufus. He's the same ol' Rufus, but it'sjust a different side to him, right?

To Tarshil: I hope I never run out of words for the story! That would make it very hard to write. XD (I'm such a dork.) Did I review fast enough?

Shiri Matakami (LORD OF FISH! I love that, still.): shoots up self with Mako and revives you No! No dead reviewers on MY watch! Noooooo! Haha, just kidding. Thanks a bunch. I hope you like the stuff in this chapter with Tseng. He'll be in the next one more. Why? You'll see as you get toward the end of this one. Oh, and could you do me a favor and not give away any content to the story in reviews? Some people, like me, sometimes read reviews before reading fics to get a good idea of what they're about to dive into, but would prefer if nothing was spoiled for them. It's just a little pet peeve of mine, and I'm not really angry about it, but I would prefer if you didn't do it. hug

* * *

"How _dare_ you, you….you…_thing_…oooohh, why I ought to…"

"Throw you in the incinerator with the contaminated needles?" finished Rufus coolly to the man running after an indeterminate black blur that was knocking things over as it fled from its creator.

"Whatever! Help me catch this stupid thing, Specimen," yelled Hojo in his reply.

Rufus didn't have to move, as the black blur suddenly decided to become a black shadow that wrapped itself around the blonde's right ankle. "Hojo, I think it caught me instead."

"Well, give me the cursed thing before it runs away again."

Rufus looked down at the shadow. To his surprise, the shadow looked back at him with two big, yellow-green eyes and let out a pathetic "mew". Rufus looked at Hojo. Hojo stared at Rufus impatiently. Rufus looked back at the shadow.

"A kitten?" asked Rufus, bemused. He picked up the shadow and held it to his chest. It leaned against him and closed its eyes, and, to the blonde's amusement, started purring.

"It's not a _kitten_, it's a coeurl."

"Aren't those extinct?"

"They were, until now. The species split into two others, hell hounds and cuars, almost two hundred years ago, and I bred those two together to form _this_."

"You don't seem too happy with the result."

"Now I see why they all died. They're disgusting." Hojo reached for the creature. It looked up and growled at him.

"I don't know, Aldous." the Vice President replied in a tauntingly jovial voice. "I just don't think it likes you." Rufus paused, the coeurl still in his arms and tilted his head, becoming suddenly serious. "Now, I have some business to propose."

"Do you want it?"

"What?"

"The _thing_. You take it before I kill it."

"That's not what I meant. I don't need a _pet_. I wanted to ask you a question about the little…shall we say 'talent'…that you seem to have passed onto me." Rufus tried to put the coeurl down, but it held onto his black shirt by its claws, blending in except for the two bright spots that marked its eyes. The blonde continued to speak, letting the creature simply hang from his clothing. "I killed Reno."

"If I'm correct, I think I met this 'Reno'. Was he a redheaded Turk--the one with the sickening crush on you?"

"He _is_ a redheaded Turk, yes," Rufus replied icily.

Hojo smiled. "Ah, I see. So, I am assuming that he did not stay dead for long."

"No, and I want to know _how_. Is it because you revived me?"

Hojo shook his head. "No, it is not a power that is passed on from person-to-person. For that to have been true, I would have to have been brought back just as you were, or I wouldn't possess the ability."

"Then, what is it?"

The scientist plucked his experiment from Rufus' shirt and placed it into a small cage. The coeurl let out a tiny squeak of fright in hopes that the blonde would save it from imminent doom. "Jenova," stated the gangly man self-assuredly as he turned back to the other.

Rufus' eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me that you cross-bred a new version of _her_ as well."

"No. I have the real thing."

Rufus laughed hollowly. "Now I've heard it all. First, coeurls, and now the legendary parasite."

"You don't believe me."

"No, I can't say that I can believe that you, of all people, would _have_ the parasite that wiped out the Cetra, and especially that she, the killer, would be the one to give people a second chance at life."

"Believe it, Specimen. It is quite ironic, isn't it?"

"Very, if it were true."

To spite the blonde, Hojo pulled one of the needles he had used on Rufus just days before from their drawer. "These are Jenova cells. Take the needle if you still don't trust me."

The Vice President did, and, just as quickly as he took it, Rufus dropped the syringe to the ground. The light closest to him burst, and he stumbled sideways.

Hojo, instead of running to help Rufus, dashed to recover the cells. "How much Mako have you taken?"

"Too much," Rufus said, grasping his bangs and running his hand over his face.

"Jenova is the foremost enemy of the Lifestream. That is what lets her rebel against it. If you react this strongly now, it is surprising you lived through their battle earlier."

"What?"

"To save you, I overdosed you with Mako, then added the cells to reverse the effects. You reacted very strongly to it then, and even stronger now."

"Whatever you say, Hojo," was all that Rufus said to that. He began to walk from the lab.

"Your curiosity has been satiated, I presume?"

"Yes. I don't even care anymore. It doesn't matter."

"You still don't believe me."

"I don't know what I believe." The blonde began to leave again.

"Are you going to take it?" The coeurl let out a pitiful meow-like noise.

"No. I don't want it. Kill it for all I care."

The creature whimpered.

Rufus left without a look back.

* * *

"This sure is the month for assassination attempts, isn't it?" asked Reno pointedly as he flipped through his mission report.

"There are a lot of people who don't like the Shinras," came Rude's short reply as he drank the last of a tumbler of rum and gin.

"Well, at least we're not running right into the middle of this one. At least we're trying to stop it _before _it happens this time."

Rude shrugged. The bartender of Seventh Heaven refilled his drink, looking at him warily. As she walked away to serve her other customers, Reno leaned toward Rude, so as to be able to talk to him without the obnoxious threat of others hearing their conversation.

"Hey," he whispered, "we'd better not talk so loud. I think the bar-wench is trying to listen in."

"She's kind of cute, though, and built like a goddess. Why didn't you bring me here sooner?"

"Some people down here still don't like me too much. I try to avoid making visits home whenever I can. But, sometimes, you just need a good drink." The redhead stared into his glass, and only one small drop of alcohol looked back at him. "Hostess," he called, and the woman walked over, her chestnut hair trailing behind her.

"Yes?" she answered coldly, looking drowsily at him through mahogany eyes.

"I need a tall glass of the strongest scotch you have."

"Are you sure about that?" the barmaid asked, leaning against the counter. Reno, unlike Rude, didn't bother to stare at the way she propped herself up by her rather large chest. "That stuff could kill a big chocobo if you gave it enough."

"Then, that's _exactly_ what I want."

The woman shrugged and turned to the bottles behind her.

"So, what do you think of her?" asked Rude in a whisper.

"There's such a thing as too big, and it's her. Why do bartenders always have such huge gazongas?"

"Why does the trash always have to ogle at them?" asked the bar-maid as she slid Reno's drink to him.

"Hey lady, he was the one who was staring, not me." the redhead stated simply, pointing to his friend beside him. "I happen to not care either way, as long as the booze is good." Reno lit a match and held it directly over his drink, the top of which immediately burst into flames. "And the booze is_ very _good." He blew out the match and his drink and threw back his whole scotch in one gulp.

"That's disgusting, and don't call me 'lady'. I have a name, by the way."

"So do I, but I'll let you get away with calling me 'the trash' for today." Reno grinned widely, wiping his mouth.

Rude piped in. "So, what is it?"

"What?" asked the bartender.

"Your name."

"Tifa."

Rude just nodded and continued to sip his drink as Tifa grunted and walked away to serve her other customers.

"So, now that you've stopped thinking with your dick, let's get back to the mission, hm?" stated Reno dully as he once again flipped through the mission report.

"I'm surprised you have enough brain cells left to think at all. What proof was that alcohol?"

"To prevent the assassination of President Shinra and the Vice President, there must first be an assassination of the assassin." Reno read aloud in a mockingly announcer-like voice. "Who wrote this crap?"

"And you talk to me about thinking with my dick? You're the one who's going around…"

Reno cut him off. "Don't finish that statement, Gertie. You're drunk. How many drinks have you had? I haven't been counting."

Rude hit him in the shoulder for use of the little "nickname". "Oh, I dunno. Only about twelve, since I'm still a little bit freaked out that my best friend is going off and screwing the Vice…" The bald Turk suddenly stopped speaking, realizing that half of the bar was staring at him, wide eyed.

"…coordinator of a lovely museum on the plate. Her name's…Rachel, and she's a little eccentric. You know, the artsy type. Now, Rude, let's go, before we drive the nice lady's customers away with our drunken yelling."

Outside of the bar, after Reno managed to drag Rude, who stumbled out of the door heavily, away from Seventh Heaven, the newer Turk began to berate his fellow mercenary, much to Rude's surprise, who had never heard Reno get onto anybody about something that he did a little too often himself.

"I don't believe this. How did a big guy like you manage to get so plastered? You'd think you'd have more of a gut for liquor than a scrawny man like me."

Rude replied in a jumble of barely coherent statements, the only parts of which Reno could understand were something about "Tseng…going to kill me…" and "nice name, Tifa."

"Damn, I'm having a bad day. First…well, first, I _die_. Then, the only stable person I know gets drunk off his ass and can't shut up about some chick with big boobs."

"You're talking to yourself." mumbled Rude.

"I know. Shut up. I'm going to call Tseng." Reno dialed his boss' number on his PHS device. "Yeah, Tseng, I think Rude's out for this next mission."

Rude listened in as Reno paused.

"No, you don't get it. He's about to fall over, he's so drunk……yeah, I'll take full responsibility for bringing him to the bar. It's not like my record can get any worse……Why not? You can't just drop out of this, too. I know you're from there, but I can't do this alone. It needs a sharpshooter, and you know how well that'll go if I'm stuck as the only one with the gun……Rude usually does that job, anyway, but I know you'd do it better than me, even if you don't usually go into combat." Reno held the PHS away from his head. The sound of Tseng's yells could be heard from where Rude was standing.

"What's wrong?"

"He's not going, either. It's more of those ninja guys, and he's still worried about endangering the mission. These guys are persistent, aren't they?" After the sound on the other line died down, Reno continued to speak to Tseng. "Listen, the only one you have to worry about getting killed if you freeze up is me, and you wanted to fire me anyway……Fine. I can handle that. Heidegger. Right. Bye, Boss."

"What's going on?"

"He's gonna come anyway, but we have to talk to one of the higher-ups about getting another sharpshooter. He doesn't seem to think he's good enough for the job. I think being the boss and getting to do all the paperwork and hand out all the orders instead of getting his hands dirty's made him soft." Reno leaned against a make-shift wall of scrap metal and clenched his hands in his hair.

Rude stared at him and scuffed his toe into the ground, a gesture that looked very strange coming from someone as daunting as him.

"_Damn it_. This is all my fucking fault. Every damned little bit of it." The redhead thinly resisted the urge to fling his PHS across Sector 7. "I'm such an idiot. I'm such a godsforsaken fucking idiot." He lit a cigarette and leaned back, squinting his eyes and pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"Don't you get why I'm so worried about you?" asked the other Turk, breaking his comrade out of his reverie.

"No. I can take care of myself. Now stop. Listen, you're my best bud and all, but this is getting little weird. Plus, you need to rest. All this crazy crap about being worried about me got you like this, and it's not gonna help to keep it up."

"I just don't want you to end up like this girl we found on one of our missions."

Reno leaned back, actually interested in what Rude had to say. After all, it wasn't as if his comrade often had stories to tell. "Girl? She dead or alive?"

"Dead. She was a rape victim. Some bastard took her out, screwed her, and slit her throat. He left her in the middle of an alleyway. The DNA we found on her was from some guy from the slums who had gone missing years before, and we never found him."

Reno just kind of gaped.

"I'd been telling Tseng I thought it was two people who'd done it. There were little traces of other DNA, but they were faint. I told him that could have been because the second guy tried to wash her off or something. The other guy wasn't in the files, like he'd been wiped out of the registry."

Reno was very lucky that Rude wasn't himself, or else he may have thought something suspicious about the fact that the redhead suddenly begun to retch.

"Who's drunk now?"

"You're right…just…too much scotch." Reno did his best to recover his composure.

"Can you do the mission?" the bald man slurred slightly.

"I'll be fine by tomorrow. You, on the other hand…you're gonna have a hell of a hangover, man. I can see it in the way you're standing." Reno changed subjects slightly, overlooking his discomfort with the previous conversation. "So, you think I'm going to end up dead in some alleyway because Rufus is gonna just decide one day that I'd be a good prospect for a friendly afternoon rape?"

"I wouldn't put it past the crazy sonofabitch."

Reno lit a cigarette and flicked his comrade off.

* * *

"Turks?" asked a large, thickly bearded man through the hair on his face. His eyes shone beady and dark behind the black mane and from within a maze of scars. "What is your business here?"

"Sir, I am sorry to disturb you," remarked Tseng with an apologetic nod, "but the member of our ranks usually in charge of gunmanship has fallen severely ill, and this mission will fail without that service."

Reno's eyes widened slightly at Tseng's outright lie on Rude's behalf. This was something the redhead felt his boss never would have done had it been him instead.

"Are you telling me that you cannot complete the mission I have assigned to you?"

"No, Sir. That is by no means what I meant. We can complete the mission, but we are in desperate need of a reliable sharpshooter."

"What about the novice? If he is not adequate, why was he hired? In the future, should I think about not trusting you to hire new members to the ranks?"

Tseng was incredulous, but he hid it well under that familiar mask of formality that Reno had never figured out how to break. "I assure you, Sir, that Reno Kiribani is an asset to our ranks, but in a very different area than Mr. Mannheim."

"And what area is that?"

"I'm a crafty son-of-a-bitch, that's what." Reno butted in.

"Reno, will you please be quiet, before you further offend Mr. Heidegger?" Tseng gave a look that gave the same impact to his employee as being shot in the head.

"I ask again, _Mister Takawa-Li_: What is Mister Kiribani's area of expertise?"

"He is a talented computer specialist and a master wielder of the electro-mag rod, a weapon designed by your fellow executive, Miss Scarlet, and given to him by the Vice President himself."

"Yvonnecka is very particular of whose hands her weapons end up in."

"Yes."

"I would like to see an example of this Turk's strengths before I make my judgment on a sharpshooter. I have some very talented comrades in SOLDIER, but I need to assess this boy's strengths and weaknesses before giving him somebody to work with, as I assume you will be less directly involved in the mission as he."

"Of course, Sir."

Reno groaned. He had never been outright tested by an executive before, not even Rufus, who just threw a weapon in his hand and left him on his own to use it. He wrapped his fingers around the rubber grip of the mag-rod, which was hinging at his belt. "Do you want to see how I do in combat, or do you want to see me hack something?"

"I would strongly prefer both," responded Heidegger, amused.

The redhead stepped up to the large man's computer. "Is there anything on here you really don't want me to see? Porn? Nasty letters from your girlfriend? Stuff I can use to blackmail you?"

Heidegger laughed, an odd booming "Gwahaha" that seemed to make the floor shake. "Nothing that you'll be able to get to."

"I wouldn't count on that." Reno's bony fingers flew over the keyboard. In a matter of minutes, he hit one final triumphant "tap" and sat back in the chair. The Turk laughed. "Oooh-hoo-hoo, I knew you had to have some interesting stuff on here! So _that's_ why you're on a first-name basis with that Scarlet chick. I was wondering about that." Reno switched into a high-pitched, girly voice, and began to read, "'Martinis,'--Wow, what a _lovely_ first name. People here sure do have some strange parents--'meet me tonight at my place to talk business.'" Reno could see Heidegger's eyes becoming increasingly wider. "I would read more, but I don't think Tseng wants to hear about the kind of business she wants to talk about. I see him as being a little uptight about that kind of thing, right Boss?"

"Reno, I assure you that you have no _need_ to read on. I believe that Mr. Heidegger is quite aware enough of your abilities on the computer."

Heidegger didn't say anything. He looked like if he would have opened his mouth at the time, that he would have exploded. Finally, he managed to calm down enough to speak. "I assure you. I do not need to see any more of Mr. Kiribani. I will find a gunman without any further assistance. You are _dismissed_."

* * *

"Back now, are we?" asked President Shinra, expressionless, as his son walked through the office doors.

"_Safe _and _sound_."

"You look worse off than when I shot you."

"Oh, believe me, Father. I am _very_ much better than that."

Shinra let out an empty guffaw.

"I don't see what is so amusing, Father."

"I made a deal with the filthy Turk."

Rufus' eyes narrowed.

"Once you returned to health, I could try everything in my power to kill him, just so you would have the pleasure of watching."

The younger blonde smiled. "Once again, I am ahead of you. I already _killed_ Reno, although he didn't stay that way for long. Does that sound familiar at all?"

"_Impossible_." Shinra stood, shaking violently with rage and a bit of fear. "Was it Hojo, or was it you this time?"

"It was _me_." Rufus raised his left hand. The lights flickered, and Shinra backed up slowly.

"What are you doing, boy?"

"I have some excess Mako that I need to let off. Call it the final step in my recovery." As the lights dimmed, casting a shadow over the President's office, Rufus drew his gun with his free hand. "I should have just enough for a couple of spells." The lights came back to life. "Bolt 3."

Shinra yelled as bolts of lightning arched from the many computers on his desk to his body. He didn't have time to react as Rufus came toward him, gun firing shots into his shoulders and gut.

Another shot fired from behind the strawberry blonde, but he turned to it just as it exited its pistol and held out his hand once again, calmly stating the word "stop". The bullet froze in midair and fell to the ground. The Vice President fired once again, this time at his attacker. The SOLDIER who had run to the President's rescue fell as a shot pierced her throat. The backup troops who came behind her, seeing what Rufus had done to their commanding officer, turned and fled.

"That's two. All out now, I think, and what a relief it is, to have burned off that extra energy, don't you agree, Father?"

Shinra groaned feebly, his blood barely visible amongst the mass of red fabric that made up his suit. "Are you going to kill me now, Rufus?"

"No. Death is too good for the likes of you. No, I think that I will merely punish you for the sins you have committed. I have passed judgment upon you, and you have failed. This is your payment." Rufus stepped up to his father and looked down upon him. He pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flipped it open.

"What are you going to do to me?"

Rufus answered by jamming the blade through his father's right hand, which lay on the floor. As he pulled the knife away, Shinra screamed and grasped his hand. His son kneed him in the nose. Shinra only saw the blade for a moment before the tip of it pierced his right retina, the thin fingers of the strawberry blonde holding up his eyelid. Blood ran down the President's face in rivers.

"Oh, gods, stop it…"

"You beg for mercy too late." Rufus pushed his father backwards, and the larger, older man fell back upon the tile, screaming with his agony. The younger pinned him down by the throat with his knee. As his final sentence, the Vice President carved the word "MORTALITY" deeply into his father's chest, through the thick cloth upon it. "Now, you carry your sins upon you, where only death itself can cleanse them. Nobody will share in these sins, as each of them can be covered, and _will_ be covered by earthly means, so that their memory will haunt you, and only you, when you look at yourself and see that which only you can see. You must suffer your sins alone, Father, like I have done until today."

Shinra's uninjured eye rolled into the back of his head as Rufus walked from the office, leaving him alone with only a dead guard as company.

* * *

Rufus Shinra sat at his own desk, a pen in his hand and a stack of papers in front of him. The light of his computer monitor cast a sickly glow onto his face. A bored look up notified Rufus of a new message from Heidegger.

Setting his paperwork aside for a moment, the blonde clicked on the message, expecting something as equally boring as the reactor planning memos and status reports. What he found was not so dull as anticipated.

"_Rufus,_" it read. Already, this seemed odd, as Heidegger was usually more formal in his writing, due to his past as a general in the now extinct Junon Militia. Perhaps though, Rufus thought, Heidegger was merely finally listening to his superior's orders that he stop referring to him as "Vice President Shinra".

"_The Turks are in desperate need of a sharpshooter. My resources are limited, and I will most likely be unable to find the needed talent to fill the role. Sir, it would be highly appreciated if you could take some time to find an adequate replacement for Rude Mannheim, who is currently incapacitated and unable to fill his usual role." _This seemed normal enough. Heidegger had asked for his help on Turk issues many times before, despite the fact that they shouldn't have been Rufus' concern--so much so that Rufus was practically the unofficial vice-coordinator of the force. Still, something didn't seem quite right about the letter, and the blonde continued reading the rest of the message, of which all that remained was the signature, which read "_Z. M. Heidegger_".

Now this, on the other hand, was very strange. Rufus knew what the "M" stood for. Often, Rufus had heard other executives refer to Heidegger as Martinis, a name which he had always assumed to be his first, not his middle name.

The blonde couldn't resist checking the files. He suddenly had a hunch as to what was going on. As he had expected, the military coordinator's file returned with the name "Heidegger, Martinis", with no "Z" in sight. The blonde couldn't keep himself from smiling.

* * *

Heidegger sat, very annoyed, in his office, looking over the files of some of the best sharpshooters in SOLDIER.

"Have you had any luck in your searches?" asked a tenor voice from the office doorway. Heidegger had been so consumed, he hadn't even heard his door open.

"No, I have not, Vice President Shinra, Sir, but I assure you that I will in time."

Rufus wrinkled his nose slightly. "For the last time, Heidegger, do not, I repeat, _do not_ call me--ever--by my last name."

"I apologize, Vice President Rufus, Sir."

This only confirmed the blonde's earlier speculation.

"Sir, if I may ask, do you know what I am searching for?"

"Yes, I do."

"And how is that, Sir?"

"That is none of your concern, Heidegger. I have my ways." This definitely proved that the message was not written by the ex-general's hands, as that man seemed to have no knowledge of a message having ever been sent.

"Do you have any suggestions, Sir?"

"Yes. I will be filling the role. I am caught up on all of my paperwork, and I have no other arrangements. Also, I have considerable experience in Turk affairs and Turk training, as you are already aware. I see no other option."

"Yes, Sir. I will notify the Turks immediately," replied the larger man, though he was very uneasy about the prospect.

"No, Heidegger. I shall take care of that matter myself, tomorrow." Rufus turned. "Return to work. I understand that you have other appointments, concerning the replacement of a SOLDIER officer killed in the line of duty while attempting to protect the President."

"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

* * *

Word spread quickly that Rufus had returned, alive, to the confines of Shinra Incorporated, and that he had continued his duties as before, almost as if he had never been gone at all. Word didn't spread at all, however, that he was participating in a confidential Turk mission concerning prevention of his own assassination. In fact, not even the Turks knew of this until Tseng heard the sound of a shot and felt the presence of a bullet that zoomed just before his nose in the underground training area.

"I think we have our sharpshooter," said Tseng, stunned.

"Yeah, who?" asked Reno, looking for his temporary comrade. When he turned to find the one person he hadn't actually expected to show up, he froze and stared, wide eyed, at Rufus, who flashed him a toothy smirk.

"Good morning, Tseng; Reno."

"Good morning, Sir."

"Uh, hiya."

"You both seem a little taken aback by my arrival here," Rufus stated, bemused. "I'm surprised, especially at you, Reno. I thought this was how you would have expected me to reply to your message. How did you get into Heidegger's account?"

"He told me to show him just what I could do with a computer. He has no idea that I used his account to send a message. I guess my clues worked, huh? I didn't think _you'd_ show, though. I just sent that so you'd pick me somebody good, instead of letting that guy pick somebody I'd hate. I don't really trust his judgment, especially not after going through some of his personal mail."

"Well, you got _me_."

Tseng decided to add his two cents to the conversation. "Sir, are you sure that this is a smart idea? This mission could very well compromise your life."

"So does sitting at my desk, doing paperwork. I am never completely safe, Tseng. You, of all people, should know this."

"But you will be going straight into the line of fire, and these are people who are already planning to kill you. Is it smart to bring yourself to them?"

"You underestimate me, Tseng," Rufus stated coldly.

"I apologize, Sir, but…"

"But _nothing_, Tseng. You seem to be forgetting that my position in this company is higher--_considerably_ higher--than yours. I appreciate the concern, but, as I was once told wisely by a friend, this is my life to keep or to throw away, and nobody, especially not somebody whom I outrank, will ever convince me otherwise."

"Not even me?" asked Reno, unable to keep a nervous shiver out of his tone of voice.

Rufus turned to the redhead, a questioning look on his visage.

"I have to know something. Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He mouthed "Again?", so that Tseng couldn't hear.

"No, Reno. I just need to get out of this building. I have begun to feel a little bit stir crazy. One can only spend so much time within man-made confines without yearning for some sense of freedom."

"I…see."

"If you are worried about your own well-being, I assure you that I am in a far different state than that of yesterday."

"I'm not……worried, I mean."

Rufus stepped up close to his partner and began to whisper softly and seductively into the redhead's ear. "Yesterday taught me something, Reno. You are, to me, far more than you could ever imagine. It means the world to me see that you are satisfied with this decision. I would let them torture me, torment me, and murder me before I ever let anything happen to you. After all, isn't that the way of the Turks?"

"You're not a Turk."

"But I am acting as one today, and I do not deviate from my role."

Reno turned to the blonde, setting one finger on his nose, which, though healing due to yet another Mako treatment, was still extremely sore. "You already are."

"Oh, how?"

"Turks don't have relationships with other Turks."

Rufus sighed. "I guess that you're right. I should get more into character."

Tseng couldn't help but feeling as if Reno and Rufus were beginning to forget that he was there with him, and he coughed lightly. "Sir, I have one last concern."

"What?" Rufus responded fiercely.

"Are you certain that you will be both be able to adequately perform while working as partners, or will you be distracted?"

Rufus smiled at that. "Tseng, I assure you that I am perfectly capable of separating my business and personal lives when needed."

The Wutaian was obviously unconvinced, but he felt it unwise to inquire further to the Vice President, so he turned instead to his subordinate. "Reno?"

"I think I can handle it, Boss."

The blonde cut in before Tseng could respond. "You don't sound too sure of yourself. Are you sure that you will be alright? I have no concerns about myself, but I don't want to do this if it will make you uncomfortable."

"I'm fine."

Tseng's eyes narrowed to slits. It made him look oddly catty, and looking at him, Rufus was reminded slightly of the coeurl in Hojo's lab. "I'm going to be in charge of relaying messages to the two of you concerning the status of the mission. We will leave for Wutai as soon as you two are ready."

* * *

The trip to Wutai was fairly uneventful. The helicopter was rather larger than that which had transported Reno and Rude to the Junon mission, and not nearly as unstable. The redhead found this an extremely calming fact.

Rufus, who was far more used to flying, just sat beside Reno in a new breed of statuesque silence that slightly unnerved his companion. Wearing a black suit in place of his white one, the blonde looked remarkably like he had at his wedding. Reno had to concentrate hard to keep his mind off of what had happened the last time the Vice President had worn something similar.

To break the silence, Reno asked, "How exactly are we going to get into Wutai? We can't just drop down in the middle of the city. That wouldn't be too sneaky of us."

"We're going by motorcycle, and we're not actually going into Wutai. Didn't you read all of the mission report? The assassin, Jiang Kisiragi, is hiding out in a hut just outside of the village."

"So, what's my job?"

"You lure Kisiragi from the hideout, and I kill him."

"Who is this guy?"

Rufus turned to his partner, his eyes droopy with annoyance. "You really didn't read the entire mission report, did you?"

Reno shook his head in the negative.

"He is the son of Tai Kisiragi, brother to Lord Godo Kisiragi, and Liu Kisiragi, formerly Liu Takawa-Li, sister to Tseng Takawa-Li."

"What? We're killing Tseng's nephew?"

"Yes."

"Holy shit."

Rufus nodded, expressionless. "I talked to Tseng while you were still preparing. He understands that there is nothing that we can do for his nephew, but he asks that, if at all possible, we attempt to spare his sister."

"We shouldn't have to kill her, should we?"

"We very well may, depending on her reaction to the death of her son. If she responds violently, we will be forced to dispose of her as well." Rufus paused, thinking intently of how to word his next statement. "Tseng has been a very dear companion of mine since I was young. He found me after I left Hojo's laboratory for the first time, as I was crawling through the halls, screaming from the pain of life, and he taught me how to live again. Because of this, I couldn't bear to tell him that she would almost surely put herself in a dangerous position, as her son is all that she has left."

"Where's the father?"

"He is dead. One of us made sure of that at Junon."

"Oh." Reno bowed his head, feeling slightly guilty for his deeds--deeds which had seemed perfectly justified at the time of their execution.

"Rude is also very close to Tseng, as he has worked with him since he was young. He would have been a liability had he come on this mission and known what he had to do. He, unlike me, is not as hardened, despite the fact that he has been a Turk for most of his life."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I took him to the bar and got him snookered, huh?"

Rufus laughed. "Is that what Tseng told you?"

"That's what happened. I was _there._"

"You are sorely mistaken. Rude was drugged, but you just happened to help him out by giving him some alcohol on top of it."

"Yeah right, Rufus. I saw him. He was plastered off his ass." Reno squinted his eyes in aggravation as the blonde smirked. "Fine. Who drugged him enough to make sure he couldn't go? You?"

"No. Tseng."

Reno stopped and thought for a moment. "Well, I'll be damned. That actually makes sense. It's unexpected, but it makes sense. So that's why the boss man didn't seem too surprised by it. Plus, I thought it was a little weird that such a big guy couldn't take a few drinks."

The helicopter shook. Reno grabbed on to the closest nonmoving object, which just happened to be the edge of his seat. Rufus sat calmly, brushing off his suit, and set out to calm his partner with a simple "We've arrived." To Reno's horror, the blonde stood up while the vehicle was still moving and walked to the door, opening it and looking outside, the wind throwing his hair around his face.

And he simply stepped out.

Reno bit his lip and stood, balancing himself on the bars around the door, and looked out. Rufus waved at him from outside, and though he couldn't hear it, the redhead could see that he was laughing at him.

"You have to jump, Reno!" yelled the Vice President. "We can't land. It'll take too long to take off again, and that's dangerous time!"

"And it's not dangerous to jump out of a moving helicopter?" Reno screamed back.

"If you're so scared, don't worry. I'll catch you!" Rufus laughed so loud that the Turk actually could hear him over the whirring blades of the copter.

"I think I'll keep some small shred of dignity, thank you!" And Reno held his breath, closed his eyes, and jumped. He hit the ground hard and rolled.

"Are you alright?" Rufus asked.

"Fine. Just peachy."

"Move."

"Do I have to?"

"I'm serious. Move, before you get crushed by the supplies."

"Like what?"

"Like a motorcycle and a crate full of heavy, metal weapons."

"That would hurt." Just to prove it, the hatch on the back of the helicopter began to open, and a motorcycle and a large crate showed themselves to the Turk.

Rufus cursed loudly and dove at the ground, shoving his partner out of the way and rolling to the side just as the supplies came tumbling out of their cargo hold. "Yes, that would hurt.'

"Rufus…I…"

"Don't mention it."

"…Thanks."

* * *

****

Miya's Note: Well, here's Ch. 19. I hope you guys liked it, especially the fact that it didn't take _too _terribly long to be updated (at least not compared to the last installment)! The next chapter's going to be all mission-ey and exciting, kind of like Chapter 4. That one will be fun to write!

: Well, here's Ch. 19. I hope you guys liked it, especially the fact that it didn't take terribly long to be updated (at least not compared to the last installment)! The next chapter's going to be all mission-ey and exciting, kind of like Chapter 4. That one will be fun to write! 

Oh, and I have big, twisty, EVIL plans for later chapters. I can give you guys some non-spoiler-ey teasers:

1.) There will be a chapter later (I don't know which one) called "The Deity's Concubine". Why? THAT, I can't say:D

2.) In even LATER chapters (one to two after "The Deity's Concubine", there are going to be two new original characters. (Well, sort of…What do I mean by that? Haha, I'm being cryptic again and am not telling!) The first is Leanora Richmond and the second is Lucas Feltz. They both look remarkably similar to Rufus, but for different reasons. Neither of them are related to him (In fact, Leanora has never met Rufus), nor are they related to each other, though the arrival of one beckons the other to come. (Now, are you completely confused? I'm EVIL! EEEEEVIL! MWAHAHA!) I can tell you, it's probably not what you would expect.

3.) The first part I ever wrote to this story, concerning a dream, is actually part of one of the very last chapters, and will take place about a week before the end.

4.) Judging by the pace that the story's going at now, there will most likely be _at least_ 30 chapters total. So, for those of you who want a nice, long, novel-like story, you're definitely going to get it. If it comes out less than 30 chapters, I'll be surprised, because I don't think I could fit everything I still want to put in here into less than eleven.

Yeah, that's enough teasing for tonight.


	20. Killing the Boss

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 20: Killing the Boss

Miya's Note: Whoo, sorry this took so long. I was having difficulties, as well as trying to get all nice and settled in to college.

Again, I must remind those of you who haven't already to read White Flag. For those of you who have already read it, the same goes for you, because I completely re-wrote it, and it's WAAY better now (and a bit longer).

To Cat Paws: Thanks for the review, but I just have to tell you the same thing as I told Shiri Makatami in the note to her in Ch. 19: Please, even though you can't take back your last review, try not to put spoilers in your comments. Thanks a bunch.

To DSC: I do hope you read this. The moment I read your review, I had the urge to reply to it. You're the first to actually notice my annoying little plot-holes. Yes, I did notice the problem with Vincent, about half-way through writing Ch. 19. There are a few others in there, though most of them don't have to do with contradictions of FF7, but with contradictions of myself. I will eventually fix these, because I'm going to stick together a little "Final Draft" (which I've started already) that'll hopefully fix some of my careless errors (and my typos!). As for Zack, Sephy, and others, they're going to come in later. As of now, they don't fit into the storyline, and any appearance of them would seem forced and unnatural. Reno and Rufus are kind of in a world of their own, and other characters only seem significant to the two of them when they directly affect their lives.

As far as BC goes, I'm currently writing this based on the little knowledge of the Turks and other members of Shinra Inc. gained from the _main FF7_, and not the other members of the FF7 Compilation. Simple as that. Those are the Squenix people's interpretations. This is mine. They don't exactly agree, and that's what fun about this. I get to be anti-official! (Meaning, this story is meant to show how I thought a lot of things were from my experience playing FF7. For example, I cannot, for the life of me, imagine the Turks having as many members as they do in BC. That just seems to make them less significant.)

Other than that _insanely_ long explanation, I'd like to say "thanks"! I'm extremely glad that you like my story enough that the nitpicks didn't detract too much. I pride myself on my characterization, and I'm glad you appreciated it. Thanks again.

To Mikie: Hey, I want to know if what I heard from Jasmine is true, but from you. And be truthful. If it is true, and you're honest about it, I won't be angry. You know what I'm talking about. I do appreciate all of the fans you got me, and I appreciate your reviews very much. But I take these things very seriously and am more offended than anything that there would even be rumors of them. Thanks, Mikie.

To Shiri Makatami: Now I'm confused. But it's okay. Thanks a bunch!

To cinnakat: All that I can say is "WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING IF YOUR SISTER'S BEEN MISSING?" You don't need to feel obligated to make BAU your first priority! I just hope everything is going well for you.

To corkykiggs: I'd really love to know your ideas of who Nora and Feltz are. I want to know what people are thinking. As far a the thing with Shinra goes…I sure as heck didn't feel sorry for him. XD

* * *

"Alright, Boss. Bye," said Reno into his PHS after he finished a briefing with Tseng. "_One_ motorcycle? Did you arrange this?" Reno asked, making doubly sure that the channel that connected he and Rufus to Tseng was tightly shut off.

"No, Reno. They could only fit _one_ motorcycle on the helicopter."

"The richest, most powerful company in the world could only afford to make a helicopter that could fit _one_ motorcycle?" The redhead threw his hands up to the sky in exasperation. "And I thought you offering to catch me was embarrassing."

"It got you to jump, didn't it?"

Reno stopped for a moment and stared at the blonde, his eyes flinging daggers at Rufus. "You sick, twisted bastard."

"I know you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Don't even go there."

Rufus stepped to the weapon crate and pulled a crowbar free from its tape on the lid, using the bar to pry open the wood of the box.

"Anything good in there?"

"Of course. I packed it from my personal collection."

Reno leaned over the crate as the blonde pulled the packing from around his weaponry. "I don't know whether to be scared or not that you own that many guns."

"Oh, you should be." The blonde pulled the last weapon from the crate after hooking the others to various places in and on his clothing. The last, he simply held in his hands.

"Is that a sniper rifle?"

"Yes. Isn't it beautiful?"

"You own a fucking sniper rifle." Reno ground his teeth together slightly. "Now, I think I have every reason to be afraid."

"Oh, yes. Do be afraid. I can be quite threatening with weapon in hand." Rufus checked the sight on the rifle by aiming at Reno's forehead.

"Point taken." Reno pushed the barrel of the rifle away from him.

"You know that I wouldn't fire, Reno."

"No, I don't. Not after yesterday."

"I told you that I am not the same as then." The blonde slung the rifle over his shoulder by the carry strap attached to it.

"Just because you say that doesn't mean that I can bring myself to trust you."

"Point taken," Rufus mocked the redhead bitterly with his own words.

"Changing subjects. So, who's riding bitch? I'm assuming me, since you seem to be better at everything else, so driving a motorcycle shouldn't be any different."

"Actually, you will be driving. My skills in that particular area are significantly under par, as I never took the time to learn. That is why I have a chauffer."

"Wow, I don't believe it. I'm actually better than you at something for once."

"Are you jealous?" Rufus asked, sitting backwards on the motorcycle seat after cutting off the cords that held the surprisingly small parachute that kept it from breaking as it fell. He rested one foot on the tire guard, and left the other hanging freely, leaving Reno room enough to sit in front of him.

"It's dangerous to ride that way."

"You didn't answer me."

"Yes, and turn around."

"I was thinking we could skip the plan and try for a drive-by shooting, but if you actually want to risk your life and limb by being the bait to draw Kisiragi from his hideout, be my guest."

"I'd rather stick to the mission plan. Plus, I don't want to risk getting mad at you and pushing you off of the bike while you have your back turned," Reno sneered viciously. "I need you for this."

"Testy, are we?"

"You can't say that you blame me, can you?"

"No, I guess not. Get on the bike."

Reno didn't say anything, but swung his leg over the seat and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. He shivered slightly, though Rufus wasn't sure if it was from revulsion or not, when the blonde turned around and wrapped his arms around his partner's waist.

The motor of the bike practically exploded into life and flew forward with a jerk that probably would have flung the blonde if he had remained in his former position.

"Where are we headed?"

"Just keep going straight. When you see Wutai in the distance, begin to slow down. Make a wide circle around the city. You should be able to see the wooded area where the hut is hidden from fairly far away. It is the only true forest in the vicinity of the city. Park far enough from it so that nobody will be able to hear the engine. We will walk from there."

"Okay."

* * *

Reno found himself surprised at Rufus' speed as he ran through the woods, especially considering what he guessed must have been an extra fifteen pounds of weaponry strapped to his body. "You sure move fast for a guy who doesn't get out of the Shinra building that often," he gasped, trying to keep up.

"I work out. That is what the gymnasium is there for. Plus, you must remember that I train with your coworkers quite often."

"So do I, but damn."

"I also don't _smoke_." Reno could hear a note of disgust in the blonde's voice at the last word.

"Hey, I quit for a while! Then that bastard Pulitz got me to start again." Reno sped up as much as he could, and, to his surprise, the space between him and the blonde lessened. "And, you know what? I think you'd look good with a cig. It'd suit your whole high class ensemb."

"I will _never _start smoking."

"You drink, you kill, you screw, and you think smoking's gross. That's just weird."

"I thought that you hated it, too. So, why are you encouraging me to start?"

"It's for the look."

"You're telling me to smoke for the fashion statement?"

Reno shrugged. "Whatever you want to call it. Yeah, I guess."

Rufus stopped in his tracks, and Reno ran right past him. The blonde raised an eyebrow and began to move again, quickly passing up the Turk once more. As he brushed by the redhead, Reno noticed an amused snigger on the blonde's face, and thought he heard a taunting whisper of "That is so gay."

"You're one to talk, you pretty-boy!" the Turk yelled. Rufus just laughed, confirming that what Reno had heard was correct.

From the depths of the forest came a light. The two continued to run, soon breaking free from the darkness of the woods into sunlight. They looked down upon the small valley that contained Wutai within it and a small hut far closer.

"Well, we're here. What's the plan, Rufus?"

"Why don't you ask Tseng? You do realize that you still have a PHS, correct?"

Reno frowned slightly and flipped open the small communicator, pressing in the combination that would reopen the channel and contact the Turk leader. "Hey, Boss. Yeah, we're here."

Rufus pulled a small earpiece from his pocket and pushed it into his ear canal. The conversation between his partner and the black-haired Turk entered his mind.

"_How is Rufus doing?"_

"He's fine."

"You should tell him that I keep having to give you reminders of what we're here for, even though you're the Turk and I'm the guest," the blonde butted in, toward his partner.

Reno waved his comment off.

"What was that?"

"Rufus is being a pain in the ass."

"Rufus, is this true?" asked Tseng jokingly.

"Of course, Tseng. How else would I keep Reno in check?"

"Shut up, Drama Queen," Reno hissed, covering the microphone.

Rufus smiled, pushing the PHS away from the redhead's mouth so that he could talk without the Wutaian hearing. "Oh, so we're back to pet names now, are we?"

"Back to the mission," said the unruly Turk with a cold change of voice that would have sent chills down any normal man's spine.

But Rufus was no ordinary man, and Reno knew this well. He took his boss' presence to mind as he closed the PHS without turning it off, attaching a headset over his ear , the microphone hanging over his mouth.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, Boss. Any special orders?"

"Just please, please try to keep Liu from doing anything stupid. I don't want her to get herself killed, especially not by my men."

"Alright. I'll try."

"I as well," Rufus said into Reno's microphone.

"Thank you both."

* * *

Reno stood in front of the hut, his electro-mag rod at the ready. He heard a rustling in the grass that caused him to turn quickly. Before him stood a man who looked the spitting image of a younger version of Tseng.

"Who are you, and what do you want with us?" asked the man, who Reno figured had to be the target.

"Are you Jiang Kisiragi?"

"Yes," stated Jiang darkly.

Reno pulled out his mag-rod. It sparked slightly, and the Kisiragi son, who, by the looks of it, was even younger than Reno himself, stared warily, running his fingers over the hilt of a katana. The redhead brandished his weapon in attempt to send out a bolt that would stun his target momentarily.

More sparks came, but the mag-rod stayed otherwise inactive.

"My name is Reno Kiribani, and I am with the Shinra Special Forces division, the Tactical Urban Reconnaissance and Killing Specialists," said the redhead in attempt to disarm the other man with words instead of with his suddenly inoperable weapon.

"If you truly were a Turk, you wouldn't be telling me that."

"I am here at the orders of my boss to kill you for plans to assassinate the President and Vice President."

Jiang smiled. "Too bad you only brought one uncivilized weapon to compete with my skills as a swordsman."

"That's the thing. I didn't."

Jiang was about to respond, but whatever he was about to say was forgotten as a bullet drove through his left temple.

Reno smiled grimly as Jiang Kisiragi fell. "It's a shame. This is always so easy."

The Turk began to trudge back up the hill from which he came, occasionally checking his surroundings for any traps. But it wasn't his sight that would warn him of another presence, but his touch.

He swatted at his neck as he felt a small twinge of pain. Between his fingers, and out of the soft skin there, a small dart protruded. He pulled it out quickly, wondering what kind of poisons it carried.

"Damn. Spoke too soon again. Tseng, Tseng, do you hear me?" he said into his headset.

"Reno, what is it?"

"It's…a dart…" he mumbled feebly, unable to think of anything more to say. He held his electro-mag rod before him in attempt to put up a last defense against his invisible assailant. This time, it didn't even flicker.

Reno felt suddenly queasy, losing his balance and toppling, half conscious, back down toward the small Kisiragi hut.

The assailant finally showed form, dashing behind Reno's twisted body and picking it up. The figure, a feminine one dressed all in black, held up her hostage between herself and the barrel of Rufus' sniper rifle.

The blonde cursed from his post on the hill. She knew he was there.

"Reno, is something the matter? What was that noise?" Rufus heard Tseng say from his headset.

The woman who held Reno hostage seemed to be hearing it, too, and she paused, lowering Reno slightly, but not enough to give Rufus a clear shot.

"Tseng?" she said nervously into Reno's microphone.

"…Liu? What are you doing? How did you get hold of Reno's PHS?"

Her voice became cold. "He's my hostage, Tseng, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me. I will bring your precious company down if it costs me my life in the end. What you have done to us is wrong. You are a disgrace to the name of Takawa-Li."

With those last words, Tseng's sister flinched from behind her human shield, leaving her left arm unguarded. Taking a moment of opportunity, Rufus aimed and fired. Liu dropped her hostage with a scream. Reno, not quite unconscious, groaned slightly.

"Liu! What is it? You must stop! There's another man there with you, a sniper…you'll get yourself killed!"

"I…don't care. He will die like this worthless man will when the poison sets in. He will die like you will when we invade your headquarters and bring Shinra down!"

"There's one problem!" yelled another voice from upon the hill. Liu looked up to see down the barrel of the same rifle that had wounded her arm. "You are unguarded, and I have the upper ground, and the upper hand. It is only because of my loyalty to Tseng that you are not already dead. I will not guarantee your life, but I will give you the chance to defend yourself."

"What are you rambling on about, Shinra scum?"

"Do you know who I am, Kisiragi?"

"I don't care who you are. You are all bastards." With that, she spit toward him, though Rufus was too far away for it to reach him.

Still holding the rifle toward Liu's head, Rufus pulled his identification from his back pocket and threw it on the ground before her. "Pick it up."

She did, looking at it with eyes that hid her sudden and unexpected fear at the name on the card well, but not well enough, and Rufus smiled faintly and sinisterly in triumph.

"_You_," was all that Liu could say.

Rufus dropped the sniper rifle, and ran at her, throwing his jacket and the rest of the weapons off as he did as well. "Fight me," he hissed, a slightly manic gleam in his icy glare. "Draw your sword and fight me."

She paused, unwilling to fight an unarmed man, no matter how much she hated him.

Rufus jumped the rest of the way down the hill, landing directly in front of his enemy. He looked into her eyes, and she withered under the gaze. "Are you afraid of me? I assure you that I have no weapons. I prefer to make this a fair fight. First, I would like my identification and your hostage, in return for giving you a chance to kill the man you hate most. After all, Shinra Incorporated would collapse if I were to die today."

She shoved the I.D. into his face. He took it with a menacing grin. "Take the Turk as well," sneered Liu. "He will die anyway."

"I doubt that." Rufus turned away, knowing fully well that his adversary would not attack him if he could not see her. "After all, you got him from behind, and it is against your policies to backstab. It will not kill the strong."

"We are ninja, not samurai."

"You are a Takawa-Li. Tseng informed me of your family laws."

Liu was silent.

"I also know how this poison works," Rufus continued simply. "It is the same thing you use to bring forth the rite of adulthood in your young. It will only kill you if you allow it to. Am I correct?"

"…Yes."

"Reno," said Rufus.

The redhead merely groaned.

"Whatever you do, do not fall asleep."

"But…hurts."

"I don't care. Don't fall asleep. I will help you shortly."

"Fight me," hissed Liu.

"Don't, Liu. He will kill you," Tseng yelled so loudly that Reno had to shake the headset the rest of the way from his ear.

Rufus turned quickly. "Draw your sword."

"You are still unarmed."

"Remember that I have trained with your brother. I am far more capable of defending myself than you would imagine. Plus, you are injured."

"Rufus…be…" Reno muttered slowly. "Be…careful."

Liu drew her sword with a graceful swipe that made the air before her ring. Rufus gestured for her to attack.

He had her right arm held above her head before she realized what had happened. "What? How did you…?"

"Say goodbye to your brother, Liu Takawa-Li."

"Sir…Rufus, don't! Stop, please…you have to…"

"Reno, do you have enough strength to move?"

"…Yes, I think so."

"Turn off your PHS."

"No, stop!"

Tseng was cut off suddenly. Rufus wrapped Liu's arm around her own body, turning her away from him while bringing her closer. The katana was dangerously close to Rufus' side.

He snapped her neck, and she fell, the blade still clasped tightly in her fingers.

The blonde stepped over the corpse. "Are you alright, Reno?"

"You killed her?"

"I did."

Reno's lips shut together firmly, forming a thin, straight line.

"I want you to try and stand."

"I don't think I can."

"Believe me when I say that the more that it hurts, the better it is for your health. This poison is designed to test will power. If you give into the pain, then you fall asleep and simply never wake up. If you fight it, despite how much it hurts, you live."

"I don't like this stuff."

"I, personally, find it rather intriguing."

"You would."

Reno fought to stand, getting most of the way before dropping back down to his knees. "How do you know about this crap, anyway? Did Tseng tell you?"

"Not quite. It was more like he gave me a hands-on demonstration."

"He used it on you?"

"Yes, after I told him that I wanted to be stronger."

Reno looked incredulous.

"What? Did you think that Turk training was the only kind that I received from your boss?"

"How did you convince Tseng to give you his family secrets?"

"I can be quite persuasive sometimes. I am sure that you know this from experience."

"Point."

Rufus smiled triumphantly, but the familiar toothy smirk faded quickly. "Oh, dear."

"What is it?"

"You've been poisoned."

"I know this. Thank you, oh obvious one."

"Do you know what this means?"

"I'm in lots of pain."

"I see that. But, mind-bending agony aside, this means that I have to drive the motorcycle."

"Oh………_oh_…oh, shit. I hate my life," groaned the redhead in an obvious mockery of the other man.

"Oh? So nice of you to finally join the happy family," sneered the blonde. "This also means that we have to find some way to transfer you from here to said motorcycle. I guess I get to carry you around, after all, along with Tseng's sister."

"You're taking her with us?"

"Yes. Tseng is her last living relative, as we have otherwise wiped out the ancient Takawa-Li family line."

Reno's eyes widened. "Shit."

"He loved her far too much, but I guess that is one thing that I cannot blame him for. Mother was perhaps undeserving of such adoration as I still give her."

The redhead changed subjects. "That's a lot of weight to bear, especially with your guns."

"I am leaving those. They are mere possessions. Plus, I would love to see the outcome of the Wutaians finding them."

"If children find them, people could get killed, or it could completely shatter their culture. Wutai doesn't have guns."

"I know."

"Wow, you're an asshole."

Rufus simply shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Reno tried to stand, not wanting in the least to have to degrade himself enough to let Rufus carry him through the woods.

Though he managed to get to a crouching position, he couldn't rise farther. "How did you deal with this shit? I swear that you're a fucking masochist."

"Perhaps. Do not feel bad. I couldn't stand either."

"How long does it last?"

"Approximately twenty-four hours. Do not worry. I will get you the antidote when we get back to Midgar."

Reno watched, his entire body aching, as Rufus ripped strips from his discarded jacket and used them to harness the corpse of Tseng's sister to his back, her quickly stiffening arms, the katana finally loosed from her fingers, wrapped dangerously around his throat and her legs around his waist.

Rufus knelt next to the Turk. "Take my hand. I will try to help you to walk."

"So, you're not carrying me?"

"I can see you do not want that." The look in Rufus' eyes could have almost been described as soft.

Reno merely complied, rising to his feet with the blonde's help. He fell forward against the other man, a shiver running down his spine as his cheek brushed against Liu's cold hands. Rufus held him up.

"Just carry me, Rufus, if that would be easier. It doesn't matter anymore."

The Vice President nodded his head, bending slightly and lifting Reno, with some effort, into his arms.

Reno could tell that the combined weight of the two bodies that Rufus Shinra carried were too much for the blonde, but marveled at the fact that the thin, frail-looking man carried them on nonetheless, trudging slowly through the woods and looking the exact opposite of how he normally did. Sweat fell down his brow and into his sight, causing tears to swell from his reddened eyes. The golden hair that reminded Reno of spun silk stuck haphazardly to his cheeks, which shown bright pink under the wet strands.

Rufus gasped raggedly, the arms around his neck obviously making it hard for him to breathe. The bedraggled image of the weighed-down Rufus began to fade from his vision, but a hoarse and pained voice kept him from falling out of consciousness.

"Stay awake! I don't need more dead weight," it said.

Reno remembered very little of the motorcycle ride, or the helicopter ride that followed, but what he did was the image of Rufus collapsing to his knees when they reached the Shinra building.

It made Reno feel as if the poison were nothing.

* * *

"I don't want it. I want to wait this out," said Reno as Rufus handed him a small vial of antidote.

Rufus smiled, sitting on his own bed next to the redhead. "I had hoped you would say that. I could have probably very easily found the antidote inside of the Kisiragi hideout, but I chose not to, hoping that you would eventually choose to take the test unassisted."

"I wouldn't exactly call this unassisted. You've helped me out a hell of a lot."

"But you are the one who has stayed alive."

Reno chose not to argue.

"Let me see your identification."

"Why?"

"Just give it to me."

Reno did. Rufus looked at the number printed under the Turk's name and sat next to the small personal computer at his home desk. He accessed the redhead's files, typed in a few things that Reno couldn't make out from where he was sitting, and handed the card back.

"What'd you do, Rufus?"

"I gave you unlimited access to these quarters. Feel free to take any remaining items from your old apartment that you wish to keep and move them in here."

"You're letting me move in with you?"

"You practically live here already."

Reno stared at the card and let out a small grunt of a laugh.

"What is it?"

"I'm just thinking how nice this big, soft bed's gonna feel when I'm finally allowed to go to sleep."

"That is all?"

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it."

"If you weren't poisoned, I'd hit you for that."

"You know, despite the way you try to be, you're such a hopeless romantic."

"You get that from my wanting tobeat you senseless?"

"No, from you letting me move in with you. It's kinda sweet."

"So you did think of something else."

"After the fact." Reno looked up into Rufus' face. "What's his story?"

"Hm?"

"Tseng. Did he tell you why he became a Turk? He doesn't seem like he belongs here."

"He doesn't. He always had too much heart to be in Shinra Incorporated. That is why I gave him a desk job. You were really replacing him when you joined, you know, although he would never admit it."

"What about Rude?"

"He doesn't like to lead. He needed somebody to take Tseng's place in the field who could give him the sense that he was following somebody he could trust. Tseng…well, he joined for all of the wrong reasons."

"What were those?"

"I shouldn't be telling you that, but perhaps later I will nonetheless. For now, I have an idea that may make this more enjoyable for you, since you refuse to take the antidote."

"By enjoyable for me, do you mean enjoyable for you?"

"Perhaps just a bit, Reno."

"Then I think that I may like this idea."

"Come with me." Rufus helped Reno to stand again, supporting him as they walked into the bathroom. It was back to perfection, every broken aspect of it now fixed as if by magic. It really paid to have the money to get things done, thought Reno.

"What are we doing?"

"Taking a shower. The warm water will help the poison to flow through your system faster, and will take some time off of your sentence."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Maybe a little, but I don't like to play fair."

"Do I have to do anything?'

"No, Reno. I am pampering you this time."

"I really don't know if I'm gonna like that."

Rufus whispered into his ear. "I'll make sure that you do. Now, stop trying to be such a gentleman. It doesn't fit you."

At first, the water actually hurt as it hit Reno's over-sensitized skin, but it wasn't long before the massive pain began to dull away, turning into a kind of strange euphoria like the kind he had heard of from reading things about faraway peoples who danced for pain until the pain became too great to hurt anymore.

They sat in the large bathtub, Rufus behind Reno, the redhead resting comfortably in between the legs of the man that he could once again touch without fear or revulsion. The Turk leaned back completely against his revived lover's chest and stomach, falling into a kind of trance from the beating of water and the slow movements of Rufus' hands as the blonde caressed his skin like they used to do at night sometimes, the only difference between the then and the now being the soap that covered those long fingers and scraped away the dirt on the skin beneath them.

They didn't have sex. They didn't even kiss. All that ensued between them was that soft and wonderful touch, but it was enough.

It was strange how easily Reno had forgiven him.

But Rufus did strange things without ever realizing he did them..

Things that could change a man.

A man like Reno.

* * *

It was only the Turks and Rufus who attended the Wutaian-style funeral for Liu Kisiragi-Takawa-Li. Tseng stood in the front, his Turks behind him. Rufus stayed in the very back, isolated from the family-tight group of mercenaries. AsLiu's body burned as a torch meant to guide the lost souls of the mourning to peace, Tseng Takawa-Li chanted a prayer to a deity none present knew, in a language none of them understood.

Tseng, for the first time to Reno, seemed foreign in both body and soul.

Afterwards, Rufus stayed behind with the Wutaian, and Reno watched from afar, feeling utterly at a loss,as the blonde spoke to the grieving man.

Then, he saw the both of them make a sudden move. Rufus' body blocked the maneuver so that Reno couldn't see what it was for. All the redhead could tell was that there seemed to be a struggle.

The redhead ran back toward them as fast as he could manage, Rude soon following suit. The both of them stopped dead in their tracks as a shot fired.

Everyone was still. From far away, the great city of Midgar loomed over them as if trying to fall upon them. The sound of the shot still rang through the air when Reno realized what had happened.

Tseng had tried to shoot himself, and it was Rufus who had stopped him.

"Let me go, damnit!" Tseng screeched, trying to move the gun to face his head.

"Stop struggling, or I will shoot you myself, and my shot will _not_ be fatal," Rufus hissed, moving the pistol farther away from the Turk.

"I will find a way, Rufus, even if I have to fucking take you down with me!"

Reno stood like a statue. He had never heard Tseng talk like this before.

Rufus grabbed Tseng by the elbow with his other hand and broke the black-haired man's arm at the joint. Tseng screamed and dropped the gun, holding his arm to him, though it stuck out in a strange direction that just a yell and a grasp could never fix.

"You are a fool, Tseng, as I once was, but you will learn to live again."

The blonde picked up the gun and swept past Reno and Rude, who ran to their leader's aid.

* * *

"Tell me now, Rufus," said Reno, standing in front of the blonde's desk as the Vice President signed papers with the rhythm of a machine.

"Tseng left Wutai because of his sister," he stated blandly, still signing the great stack of paperwork that littered his desk from days away from the office.

"Why?"

"At thirteen, Tseng was given the same poison that Liu used on you, but she was young and knew nothing of the ways of adults, and she found the antidote and gave it to him." Rufus kept signing.

"And?"

"And he took it, because he didn't want to hurt his sister. But their father found out." Signature. And another.

"So he just left?"

"He didn't want her to know that she had made him a disgrace to their family, so he made himself into one, and became an enemy." And sign again. And again. And again. And Rufus dotted one last "i" in "Shinra" and stopped, looking up at the redhead and resting his head in his hand. "Anything else?"

"Why did he become a Turk? Wouldn't it have been better for him to stay in SOLDIER?"

"He was too smart for them. Heidegger saw him one day and recruited him on the spot. I found him, going crazy with remorse,and made him what he is today: a de-clawed Turk."

"Is he gonna be alright?"

"He will recover, from both his broken arm and his broken heart, over time."

"You saved him."

"That was the little Reno in my head telling me to do the right thing."

"Don't flatter me. I think I may have let him die, if I had been in your place."

That seemed to Rufus a very odd thing for Reno to say, indeed.

* * *

Miya's Note: Yay, they're back together…even though they were never _really _apart…

Don't worry. Their relationship confuses me, too. That's why I love it.


	21. The Mortality of Names

**Chapter #21: The Mortality of Names**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: Huzzah! Finally, after much writer's block and very little free time on my part, here's Chapter 21! This one deals with some pretty hard stuff, so be warned. It gets very, very dark in places. **

**On an interesting note, this one does have some back story on some of the minor characters. Hurray!**

**Oh, and because this site now has the loverly review reply system, I don't have to take up valuable space with replying to your comments here. Sorry if they come a bit delayed, though. I'll try to keep up. **

**And to all of my non-member fans, thank you as well! Your reviews mean so much to me.**

**

* * *

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It was interesting how quickly things could change inside of Shinra Incorporated. One moment, the thoughts running through Reno's mind revolved around the fact that one boss had just tried to kill himself and that another (who had just killed Reno and subsequently brought him back to life) was again in his good graces and could once again be called his lover.

The next, a box was shoved into Reno Kiribani's arms by the taller of the scientists he had seen burying the body of said lover-boss' ex-doctor.

"Take it! Do something with it! Just don't let the Professor find it, because he was going to destroy it…"

"Uh, thanks, guy, but I don't need any of this crap about running away from mad scientists. I've got enough on my plate as it is, so give your box to somebody who can handle it."

The scientist grabbed Reno around the shoulders and shook him desperately, watching the package carefully as he did so. "Take the thing, before it's destroyed forever. We've done something great, and I can't allow it to just…to just…"

Reno just stood, wide eyed, holding the package and looking around nervously. The scientist let him go and ran for it.

"Hey! Come back here! I don't want…"

It was too late, because the scientist rounded a corner, and Reno was unsure of which one.

* * *

"Uh, Rufus, you won't believe what happened to me in the hallway just now."

"Hit me," said the blonde dully, pouring himself a tumbler of vodka. "Liquor? What do you like? Wine? Rum? Brandy? _Champagne_?"

"Scotch."

"Done." Rufus pulled a bottle of the most pricy-looking scotch Reno had ever seen from a cupboard and looked at the redhead for the first time since he had entered the room. "What's in the box?" he asked, pouring Reno's drink into a second tumbler.

"I, uh…don't know."

"Mew," answered the box.

Rufus tensed, and half of Reno's glass of scotch ended up on the floor. "Where did you get that?"

"Scientist?" the redhead answered meekly.

"Mew," said the box.

"Did Hojo put you up to this? Give the fucking coeurl back to whoever gave it to you. I don't want it!"

"Is that what this thing is?" Reno opened the box slowly, only to find two bright, yellow eyes staring back up at him.

"Mew?" asked the eyes.

"It looks like a kitten of some sort."

"Kitten, puppy, some hell-beast crazy hybrid of the two; I. Don't. Care. _Get rid of it_."

"I don't know. I think it's kind of cute. Can we keep it?"

"_Reno_, you are testing my patience. Go drown the damned thing or something." Rufus felt very much like a mother trying to reason with a very spoilt child. "_Kittens_. If this is what my dark nation is coming to, then I think I would be better off jumping out of my office window and killing myself."

"I think a pet would be good for you. You know, something to keep you company when I'm not with you. Granted, I'm sexier than the…coeurl, you called it?…but it might be nice to have around."

"Reno."

"I think they were gonna kill it."

"_Reno._"

The redhead took the coeurl out of its box, and it jumped from his arms and wrapped itself around Rufus' ankles, much like it had in Hojo's laboratory.

"Look, Rufus. It likes you."

"Well, I don't like it. Take it before I kick it."

In hearing this, the creature wrapped even more tightly around the blonde's leg, digging its claws into his calf. Luckily for the black kitten-puppy, Rufus had a high tolerance to pain.

"Fine. You can be so damn grumpy sometimes," murmured Reno, trying to pry the tiny creature from his partner's leg. It hissed at him.

Then it scratched him, and bit him, and Reno was about ready to kick it, too.

It was interesting how quickly things changed inside of Shinra Incorporated, because, at that moment, a large, familiar, and malicious grin spread across Rufus Shinra's face.

"Perhaps I _do_ like it, Reno. Maybe it will do well for me to take in a pet to keep guard over our apartment. It will keep out any _obnoxious _guests." The coeurl mewed happily as the blonde picked it up and looked into its tiny face. Two antenna-like tentacles curled contentedly around each other from the tips of the creature's ears.

"You are so dead, Rufus!" the redhead yelled jokingly, knocking his lover over onto the bed with a laugh.

It was the happiest Reno had ever seen the Vice President as they mock-wrestled over the mattress, the diminutive coeurl bouncing merrily around them. Rufus laughed, and he smiled, and his eyes lit up like they were on fire. He fell back, his arms and legs sprawled over the bed awkwardly. He looked like a complete fool, but Reno thought it was positively beautiful.

If this--a laugh and a kitten--was what Rufus' dark nation was coming to, Reno liked the way the future looked.

* * *

"Janice, tell Scarlet that I need to see her in my office, immediately."

"Yes, Sir."

"So, what happened to it?" inquired Rufus to the redheaded Turk, who sat on top of the desk with a worried look on his face.

"What? You're not mad at me? I thought you'd kill me for losing the mag-rod."

"I am much more angry at Scarlet for making a weapon that would stop working in the middle of a vital mission."

"I dunno. Things might've been different if the thing had actually worked, and then we wouldn't have been able to spend such quality time together."

"And maybe you could have stunned Tseng's sister and avoided my having to kill her. Then, Tseng wouldn't be in the infirmary with a broken arm, hanging onto the edge of sanity."

"Yeah, but…"

"But my point is that we can't rely on 'maybes' and 'might have beens', because there's no telling how things could have gone on that mission, and the failure of your weapon, under different circumstances, could have very easily meant your life. It almost did, as it was. And, in a different mission, had it failed like it did, it could have meant Rude's life, or…"

"I get the point, _Mom_."

It was at that moment, as Rufus flicked Reno off angrily, that Janice came through the door, looked at Reno puzzledly, and gave Rufus the notice that Yvonnecka Scarlet was waiting to enter.

"Let her in."

Reno jumped off of the desk and backed away from it. He had seen Rufus angry and wasn't particularly looking forward to seeing it again, although the rage wasn't aimed at him.

"Yes, Vice President Rufus, _Sir_, is there something I can…do for you?" Scarlet slurred in what seemed like an attempt to be seductive. Rufus thought she sounded drunk.

"Yes, Scarlet, you could very well drop that sickening act around me. It may work on my father, but I am immune to your…" Rufus waved his hand in the air, trying to find the right way to put what he was thinking.

"Feminine wiles?" interjected Reno.

Both Scarlet and Rufus stared at the redhead with a look that clearly stated, "Stay out of this conversation."

Rufus changed subjects, turning once again from Reno to the blonde woman in front of him, whose red dress so aptly fit her surname. "Now," he said forcefully, distracting the Shinra weapon's specialist away from Reno, toward whom she was winking suggestively, "I need to see your plans for the electro-mag rod. I understand from Reno here that the weapon suddenly failed to work in a time when he needed it most."

"Sir, the electro-mag rod was a prototype…"

Scarlet jumped as Rufus slammed his fist against the desk. "I don't fucking care! That is unacceptable, Scarlet! I want an explanation and a way to fix it _now_, before I decide to show you just how little of an impact it would make on my life to make sure that you never laid foot in this building, Midgar, or any _other_ company property again, including any and all of the cities in which we have stakes."

"Weapon development is a delicate process. I can't be expected to just hand you a perfectly operable weapon out of thin air…"

"I _understand_ this, Scarlet, but what I want to know is _why_, exactly, you handed that particular weapon to me if it was just a prototype."

Scarlet found it quite impossible to answer that question.

"Well?" Rufus hissed, standing and tapping his fingernails on the desk.

"I…well, I just…uh…"

"_Out!_" yelled Rufus, shooing the woman out of his door roughly. "Don't come back until you come up with a way to _fix_ your idiotic mistake!"

The door slammed, and Reno started laughing, quietly at first, then to a bemused chuckle, and finally to all-out guffaws that triggered the blonde to turn around so quickly that it caused the laughter to cut off like it had been suddenly unplugged.

"What the hell is so funny?" growled Rufus, striding quickly over to face the redhead, who backed up, a nervous half-smirk still on his face.

"Scarlet?"

"And _why_?"

Reno shrugged.

"I don't see anything even remotely entertaining about what just transpired in this room."

"Uh, so I guess I don't either, huh?" Reno chuckled slightly, and then caught himself and stopped.

Rufus stared at him for a moment, before the corners of his mouth tugged upward. "You are so amazingly gullible."

Reno's frown grew into a lopsided scowl that made him look a bit like an annoyed teenager. "And you are such a prick."

Rufus pushed Reno against the wall with his body. "I don't know how long it's going to take for her to perfect a new electro-mag rod," he said, running his hands through the redhead's hair.

"So, what do I do?"

"Can you use any other weapons?"

"I dabble in knife-fighting, and the swords we used in SOLDIER were pretty easy to work with. I could kind of use a machine gun, too, but that's just because I could just open fire until I hit something."

"I should teach you, then."

"Teach me what?"

"How to shoot. That information could be useful later."

"You're gonna try to teach me how to use a gun before the next mission? That would take a miracle!"

"I am a man of miracles, Reno. At least, that's what they say."

"Who?"

"The people."

Reno stopped for a moment, and looked into Rufus' eyes. There was a glint in them; for once, something Reno could see that made Rufus happy. But, as with all things but one, this was not the kind of happy that you think of when you see children laughing or people enjoying a good meal. No, this was Rufus-happy; that odd manic pleasure that could only be found in the kind of man who was too high up to be able to see the truly happy people. To him, they were probably tiny, like ants.

True happiness was beneath Rufus Shinra, thought Reno.

He remembered the people the Vice President had been talking of. He had known them once--_been_ them once. He had never known a name. He just knew the white messiah.

No, the white _god_.

"Reno, would you stop staring at me like that?" Rufus hissed sharply, his face morphing completely. "I don't need you worshipping me, too."

And he walked out of his own office doors, leaving only a small gesture to beckon the redhead to follow.

"Too late," Reno whispered to himself.

* * *

"Now, I don't want you to try shooting from here just yet," said Rufus calmly.

Reno pouted slightly.

"I have something to show you first, Reno, so don't look at me like that. As of now, you have no skill whatsoever, and don't deny it. You are positively pathetic."

"Alright, so what _do _you want me to do, oh mighty teacher?"

"I want you to hold that gun, jump over that wall right there, walk up to the target, and shoot it at point blank. Now, I don't want you to shoot to kill. I want you to shoot where you think would debilitate it most without it being fatal."

"Why at point blank?"

"Because I am making a point, and you can't do it from here."

"Fine." Reno did as Rufus instructed, shooting the target, a full-body cardboard silhouette, in the left knee.

"Any particular reason you picked that knee, Reno?"

"I just thought it would hurt most."

"Good. Now come back here, and set the gun down on top of the wall."

"Alright." Reno did, looking back at his mentor skeptically. Before he realized what Rufus was doing, the Turk had a cut through his pants across the same knee he had shot on the dummy.

"Fuck!" was all that the redhead could choke out as he dropped to the ground in front of the blonde. Rufus grabbed his hair and forced their eyes to meet.

"The first thing that you must learn, Reno Kiribani, is that the first place a shooter generally attacks is his own biggest weakness. You have had problems with that knee in the past, haven't you?"

Reno kind of squeaked and tried to nod his head.

When I learned this, the first thing that I started to do was to target myself. The first place I always aimed was the hand. My hands have always been weak, so I had to change that. Before you can learn to shoot, you need to learn how to pinpoint others' weaknesses, rather than your own, and to overcome the things that they can use against you.

"Excuse me, Rufus, but I can't do that if I don't know how to aim," Reno managed to force out, pushing the blonde's hand out of his hair and standing, using his uninjured leg for support.

"And what's the point of being able to aim if you don't know what your target is?"

"I'll just shoot 'em in the head. Since when does a Turk not have to kill?"

"When someone gets in the way, like Liu Takawa-li."

"And you didn't have to cut me. You could have just told me, like any normal teacher."

"I'm not normal, Reno."

"And you're not gonna be able to teach me how to shoot before the next mission. It's impossible. I've tried. I have no aim."

"Shoot me."

"And……._What_?" Reno stepped up to his lover and poked him in the forehead. "I know you're a fucking psychopath, but what's this shit about 'shoot me' and stuff all about? I swear, I don't know how you do it, but you get more nuts every time I see you."

"Shut up, stand behind the counter, like you would normally, and shoot me," Rufus continued, jumping the counter and standing where the targets would be.

"I can't, Rufus, you nutcase. Not only are you my boss, you're my…"

"That's an order, Reno."

"I'm not gonna shoot you."

"Just trust me, and fucking do it. Imagine you're on a mission to kill me, as my father is angry at me for some recent, classified events, and you are on the job. According to your job description, you would have to listen to the highest ranking official--The President--and complete your task fully and without hesitation."

"Wouldn't I be able to cop out, like Tseng does, since my personal biases could compromise the mission?"

"Father has ordered _you_, because he takes a sick pleasure in watching people he dislikes suffer, and you are very much disliked by him."

"This sounds too fucking realistic. I don't like it."

"You're not supposed to."

"I can't do it."

"You have to, or he'll kill you."

"I've already died once, and I'd do it again to keep from having to shoot you."

"How noble," the blonde drawled sarcastically. "Alright, say that you have to shoot me, or I'll shoot you instead. I've killed you once, and I can do it again as well."

Reno's eyes widened as the Vice President pulled a pistol from inside of his jacket and aimed. "Too realistic. Too fucking realistic, Rufus. You're starting to really creep me out. Is this a real mission, or are we really just training. Tell me we're training."

"Sometimes you have to train with a life or death situation to get any real benefit from it."

Reno held up the gun and clenched his teeth, aiming at Rufus' right hand--the one clenching his weapon.

And he fired.

Some blood splattered from where the bullet grazed flesh.

"Good. Very good, Reno."

"I shot you. I really just fucking shot you, Rufus! What were you thinking?"

"Yes, Reno. You shot me. You aimed, you fired, and you shot, going subconsciously straight for the point that I told you was my weakest, and you _hit_."

"I hurt you."

"You shot me, but you didn't hurt me. It was just a scratch, and you must remember: I told you that I had to eliminate my hands' vulnerability. I've built up quite a resistance to pain over the years."

"I shot you," Reno stammered out again, amazed that he had actually done it, and more at the fact that he had done it successfully.

"Your problem is need. If you need to hit it, you will. If the need is not great enough, you will miss. Normal training isn't good enough for you. It has to be real. Problem solved." Rufus pulled a bandage from his coat pocket and tied it around the shallow wound. He jumped back over the counter, stepped up to the redhead, and wordlessly pulled the Turk's head back and stole a fierce kiss before walking into the elevator with a malicious smirk and a small wave of his injured hand.

"That was too easy," Reno mused to himself. "He has to have done something to me. It _can't_ be that easy."

The Turk stopped, looking down at the gun with a grimace. "Only Rufus Shinra."

He tried to shoot a standing target and failed.

* * *

President Shinra looked grimly at his reflection in his pristine bedroom mirror. He adjusted his suit, fiddled with the square of silk in his breast pocket, and slicked down a piece of wayward hair.

Perfection, all of it. Not a speck, not a spot, not a fiber out of place.

He turned his body slightly to look at his profile. As he turned his head to follow, only one eye remained facing the mirror. The other stared forward blankly with his head.

He turned back toward the mirror and put a finger up to his glass eye. The lid over it didn't close without the nerves under to warn it to shut.

The tiny scar on the back of his hand barely showed.

But what burned his vision the most was the image of his own mortality, carved into his chest under that perfect, red suit and scarred permanently into his mind.

Some day, he would die, and be replaced by that heathen of a son.

The name of Shinra would be dead, and Rufus would be the one they would remember.

_She_ had named him.

* * *

Aldous Hojo looked at his hands. They were frail and thin, the skin over them drawn and paper-like. The blue-green veins under that skin shone out of them; color in a map of white and gray.

They shook as he held the scalpel. The tiny incision he made into his specimen wasn't as straight as he used to make it.

Aldous Hojo realized with a sudden horror that he was old.

He had been young and handsome once. He had stood tall and proud and imposing over the other scientists since before he had been head of the department. He looked like a man with potential, and he showed that potential in his experiments and his successes.

Back then, he had a beautiful wife, and to him, she was his biggest success. She was a scientist, too, and just as passionate as he.

Her name was Lucrecia.

He said the name aloud, and it rang back callously at him from the laboratory walls, so differently from how it had haunted his mind and warmed it like a drug when he had loved her.

Loved. Aldous Hojo had loved once, but love was as dead to him now as the cold specimen on the table and his even colder hands.

She had killed it. She took his love in the form of their unborn son and she stole it away and gave it to another man.

His name was Vincent Valentine.

She kissed this man, and she slept with him, and she told him she loved him. Hojo knew it by the way her lips had become frigid to him, her body stopped shivering for him when she laid in his bed.

By the way she couldn't look at him when she said "I love you."

As his love for her died, so did the son. He watched the tiny being in Lucrecia's womb as it began to wither away.

And, like with his love, a desperate Hojo tried to save his son by any means necessary.

The beast's name was Jenova.

Hojo himself had been the beast's first host. He had injected himself with her cells, and she had spoken to him, warmly and with the voice of Lucrecia before her betrayal. He used her to delude himself into believing she still loved him.

She used him to take their son, and to punish Lucrecia for what she had done to him.

_Their _son, his and Jenova's, who would outlive both his father and biological mother to take over their scientific legacy.

His name was Sephiroth.

_She_ had named him.

* * *

Rufus' office was quiet. Too quiet for Reno's liking. The sound of the keys on the blonde's computer keyboard weren't enough to ease his worry.

"I need to see Rude before he goes on his next mission," said Rufus unenthusiastically, not bothering to look up from his work.

"Okay."

"Would you ask Janice to call him up here, or could you possibly retrieve him yourself?"

"I'll talk to Janice. Can I stay in here while you talk to him, or do you want me to leave?"

"It doesn't matter. It is Turk business, so you may hear it if you wish."

"Alright."

The redhead returned a few minutes later with the message that Rude would be up shortly.

"Very well."

When Rude Mannheim arrived, Reno could tell that he was not happy to see that Reno was hanging around the Vice President's office, and even less happy that he himself had to be there. "What is it, Sir?"

"I just need to make sure that you understand exactly what you are looking for."

"Yes, sir."

Reno flipped through the briefing that Rude had sat on the edge of Rufus' desk.

"You are not to make it known that you are affiliated with the Turks or with Shinra Incorporated. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Also, I understand from Tseng that you have a few issues that you need to resolve with me personally, and that they also concern your coworker here. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Then resolve them." Reno, who was by that time looking up from the papers in his hands, could tell that Rufus knew exactly what was coming, and that he couldn't care less about how Rude felt on the matter.

"I would like you to encourage Reno to stop seeing you privately. He won't listen to me, but I know this is bad for Reno, his job, and the rest of us. I don't think it's smart for you two to keep seeing each other."

"I assure you, Rude, that Reno will not listen to me any more than he has to you. He has not in the past, and I doubt he will in the future. Besides, I find it difficult to take your request to heart, as I do take some pleasure in his company."

Rude continued with his pleas, but Reno noticed that Rufus wasn't looking at him anymore.

Rufus was staring at the ceiling.

Reno followed his gaze, and realized what the blonde was looking at.

Rude was broken from his rationale by a quick dash by Rufus around the large desk and a broken yell from the blonde. The tallest Turk watched as his colleague leapt forward to restrain the Vice President.

And Rufus Shinra did something that neither of them anticipated.

He fainted.

"What the hell?" was all that Rude could think to say, but he was again ignored.

Reno dropped to the ground with the blonde, fanning him and trying to wake him up. Rufus wasn't unconscious for long, and he awoke in much the same state as before he had fallen.

"No…don't leave me!" Rufus yelled in a panic, beginning to hyperventilate.

"Rufus, she's gone. I'm sorry."

"Mother, you can't leave me…"

"She's gone, Rufus. There's nothing you can do."

Rude, wide-eyed, backed away.

"I can't let this happen to you!"

"It's not your fault. It was never your fault. She's gone."

"I…I could never save you…"

"Rude, could I ask you a favor?"

Rude simply nodded.

"Stay out of our business."

"I…I couldn't…"

"Rufus, I'm sorry."

* * *

Much to Reno's dismay, he didn't receive a mission briefing from Tseng that day, or the next, while Rude was out on an important assignment to gather information on a rebel group based in the slums called AVALANCHE, named for its goal to collapse Shinra incorporated and supposedly bring peace to Midgar and the world, and capitalized to mock Shinra's own SOLDIER.

What bullshit.

Reno was stuck at the apartment alone with the coeurl--which Rufus had jokingly dubbed "Dark Nation"--while everybody else had important work to do.

And to think, at any other time, Reno would have jumped at the chance to have a day off.

But he was _bored_, damn it, and feeling highly unappreciated.

Dark Nation mewed at him, staring at him with those sickly cute, ever-wide yellow eyes.

"What?" asked Reno annoyedly.

"Mew?" answered Dark Nation.

"You hungry or something?" asked Reno annoyedly.

"Mew!" answered Dark nation.

"You understand me?"

"Mew."

"Creepy thing."

Dark Nation jumped into his lap, stared up at him, and mewed again.

Reno reached for the creature hesitantly and started to stroke its head.

The coeurl began to purr.

"Creepy, but cute. I'm surprised Rufus actually agreed to keep you. You're not scary enough. I always thought if he had a pet, it'd kill people or something."

Dark Nation tilted its head, and twitched the thin tentacles on its ears, and a tiny thunderbolt arced over the folds of Reno's shirt like static.

"I take that back. You probably will kill people when you get bigger. Remind me never to underfeed you, okay?"

"Mew."

Dark Nation curled up on the Turk's lap and fell asleep. Reno picked it up carefully and set it on the bed. It stirred slightly, but curled tighter and stayed sleeping.

"Rufus, what is there to do in this apartment?" Reno asked to the air.

The air didn't answer.

"Well, you have books. Lots and lots of books. And you have music." Reno looked briefly over the blonde's collections. "Boring, boring, and boring. Who would've thought you were such a geeky bookworm? And your music? You weren't kidding when you said you liked all that classical crap."

The Turk plopped down on the sofa.

"When you were stuck in here, you said, you used to draw." Reno stood again and started to rummage around the rooms, looking for paper, or better, old sketches. He found the former and a pencil, and sat down to try and follow his lover's example. He drew out some stick figures and threw the paper on a table dejectedly.

So he decided he would try and find something else to do. He looked through the blonde's bedside table, hoping to find something blackmail-worthy, like porn or photos.

Nothing interesting.

Rufus' drawers were as spotless as the visible parts of his room.

Correction; their room.

Anything under the bed?

"Ah-hah," Reno exclaimed, pulling a small carved marble box out from under the bed frame. "Jackpot."

He opened the box, and inside were various faded photographs, most of them of Virginia. Looking at her, she looked strikingly like her son, who appeared in a couple of pictures as well, but much younger and much thinner.

Virginia, in what seemed to be the earlier photos, was beautiful and flawless. She had a face like a painting or a doll, with pale, smooth skin and pink-tinged lips and cheeks. Her red-orange hair framed her face, continuing past her shoulders sometimes tied back loosely and sometimes free and wavy.

In the newer, less crumpled pictures, her face was more drawn and angular, her cheeks and lips less rosy, and her then-shorter hair almost always tied back in a careless bun.

Rufus, in the pictures with Virginia seemed to be hiding behind his mother, his bright, wide blue eyes shining out like the coeurl's when it was afraid. They matched Virginia's in color in the photos, not yet icy and death-like.

He was thin and lanky, already tall, but not nearly as statuesque. No, that was his mother there, while he was small and fragile.

It was hard to believe that this child had become the man that Reno knew now, even though the redhead had seen Rufus at times when his childish frailty showed through.

"I see you found my old pictures," came the voice of the man who had replaced that child.

Reno hurriedly tried to replace them in their box.

"Don't. It's time that I left my past behind."

"Those pictures are all that's left of her."

"She's gone, Reno. She no longer exists. My family legacy destroyed her. All that I can do for her is let her go."

"That's not right. She existed, Rufus, and those pictures prove it."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Those are just pictures. All that's left is for them to burn like she did."

"She was your mother, Rufus."

"I don't have a mother."

Rufus took the photographs from Reno, and he threw them in the stove. Both men watched dismally as they went up in flames.

Her name was Virginia.

* * *

Early the next morning, Reno awoke to a quiet room. He looked at the bedside clock. It was too early for him to be awake, and even too early for Rufus to be.

Even the sounds of Dark Nation were absent.

Chills ran down the redhead's spine. He sat up and looked around. Everything was dark and empty. Even the shadows of the furniture seemed to loom drearily in the dense morning shade.

Reno felt completely and utterly alone, and he didn't like it. He felt the other side of the bed, and felt only mattress and sheets.

He stood quickly and fumbled for the lights. As his eyes adjusted, he realized how alone he really was. Rufus had disappeared, Dark Nation with him.

It was almost an hour later, as the Turk ran around the Shinra building futilely, looking for any sign of the blonde, that he found Janice, who told him solemnly that the Vice President had left for Junon and had listed no time of return.

"He told me to tell you not to try and contact him. Between you and me, he seemed depressed to be leaving. I think you've been the only happiness he's had in a while. He cares about you, you know. I can see it in the way he brightens up when you come to visit. But don't tell him I said that. He's fussy about his personal life, you know," Janice told Reno consolingly.

"Do you know why he left?"

"All he said was that he had to, but not much more than that. He's moving everything over to his Junon offices, though. Not like when he usually goes over there. I think he's going to be gone for a long while, if you ask me."

"He didn't tell you anything?"

"I'm sorry, but no. I'll try and keep you updated with any information I find out, okay? That's about all I can do. I wish I could help more, but I do what I can."

"Thanks, Janice."

Reno walked into Rufus' empty office and sat down on the floor.

* * *

**Miya's Note: Well, after a long, LONG delay, here's Chapter 21, the end of the first part of BAU. Next, is the Interlude, and then the beginning of the second "half". **

**I told you this was going to be a long story. If you wanted, you could even say that this is the end of "Book 1". It IS novel-length already. **

**Ah, yes, and the next couple of chapters (22: The Diety's Concubine (That's where it is!) and #23: Title Unknown) shouldn't be too long in coming, as I have a lot of the material in them written already. It just has to be typed up, so you guys shouldn't be kept waiting as long as with this one. (Again, sorry about that!)**

**I hope you enjoyed!**


	22. The Deity's Concubine

**Business As Usual**

**22-Interlude: The Deity's Concubine**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: Well, this marks what I guess you could call the halfway point of my story. **

**As if it's not novel-length already. **

**Note that this section, like White Flag (Again, read if you haven't. If you haven't read it yet, you've probably missed some hidden references and foreshadowing to the ending.) is in Reno's POV. Also note that, from now on, there's going to be an intro from Reno at the beginning of each of the chapters. I'm adding those to the chapters before this, but only in the full version that I'm not posting online until the story's finished. **

**Sorry about that, guys. Remember that you're reading a rough draft.**

**But, after this Interlude is a new beginning. After, you must say goodbye to the unfamiliar and embrace what you already know. **

**So begins the precursor to the time of FF7. **

**Oh, and if you've read White Flag, you'll also see that it was in 1st person perspective, in Reno's POV. This Interlude is the same, as will be the epilogue. The new chapter intros serve to tie the perspective switches together. **

* * *

It hit me hard when he'd left. He went without a word, without a warning, and I woke up to find him…well, not to find him at all, really. I never understood why he chose that moment to leave, but somehow I knew that the only thing that would be able to bring him back would be the death of his father.

I supposed that the whole ordeal had a little to do with me, and a little more to do with the loss of his mom.

It was odd not to see him there, and it was odd in Midgar, the day the news of Rufus' departure to Junon hit the slums. I was on a mission that day to track and kill a woman named Celeste Myeia, along with her husband Jacob.

She was a hacker like me, but she had made the mistake of breaking into Rufus' classified files as they were being transferred to his Junon computer. Janice was the one who had caught her. That information alone was enough to explain to me why Rufus--who always was very short-tempered with most of his employees, I've heard--kept her as his secretary for so long.

But I always did kind of admire somebody who could catch a hacker in action. All that shit about respecting the adversary and all.

I found it amazingly ironic to realize that I could've been in Myeia's place if I'd never escaped from the slums. I found it even more ironic that it would've probably been the man I that day could call my best friend who would've been on the mission to kill me.

But I doubt it would've been quite the same if it had been Rude in my place and me in Myeia's. It just would've been infiltrate, bang, dead. "Sorry, guy. It's my job."

It wasn't gonna be like that with me.

When I'd lived in the slums, I'd heard about "The Messiah", but I'd never really paid much attention to the gossip. What I did know was that the ones who worshipped this supposed savior of Midgar were the same ones who were unhappy with Shinra's tyrannical, money-happy rule and were waiting for it to be changed.

Sector 5 was lucky enough to have a big, public telescreen, and the people who lived near it crowded around it to watch their Messiah in White speak. If Shinra was a tyrant, his son was their beautiful saint. Some of them wept and grabbed the screen, leaving salty, greasy fingerprints on the slightly cracked glass as he spoke to his people. Others, like me, were caught and held in a silent stupor that kept us motionless and trapped in his web, just like he drew the others to him like moths to a flame.

One by one, he ate us and he spit us out.

Rufus had been right when he had said they worshipped him. He was the slum-people's replacement for a god. Even to me at that moment, he seemed majestic, stern…

Untouchable.

He seemed to see us all individually as his inhuman ice-eyes scanned left to right and back again. He seemed to speak to each of us alone every time he opened those full and deceptive lips of his that only I in that crowd knew could speak fantastic lies that made the truth seem incomprehensible.

I, at that very moment, gained a horrible and personal grudge against Celeste Myeia. Not only had she committed treason against my Rufus, she had done it against Midgar's Messiah. She had tried to destroy us all by going against our God, who could watch us without seeing, and who could speak to us without hearing our cries.

"They're lying to themselves," I heard. I turned to find the living version of the reference picture of Celeste Myeia standing just feet away, talking to the man I knew to be her husband.

How convenient.

"They lie to themselves by believing he's different," she said.

Jacob Myeia looked afraid of those words.

I stepped up to the two with a smile on my face, clapping my right hand on the husband's shoulder. "Why so glum, chum? I agree completely with the little lady, but you look unsure."

Jacob didn't reply. He looked at me skeptically, his eyes running over my smile and my civilian clothing.

"Mind if I light up?" I asked casually, in order to gain their trust. "I need a cig, especially after watching the stuck-up pretty-boy."

Celeste Myeia's eyes brightened. She seemed thrilled to find someone who agreed with her ideas in a crowd of people who lost themselves to worshipping Him. Jacob, on the other hand, shirked away from me.

Smart man.

"Let's talk somewhere more…private. I'm sure you know how dangerous it is to express these ideas in public," I whispered to the woman in my arm. "Is he one of us?" I pointed to the shaky-looking man beside us. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That's my husband. He would _never_ turn against me."

"Good," I drawled out, sliding my hand into the small of the traitor's back, watching the way her husband's face turned from fear to anger. "Let's go." I wrapped my arm around her thin waist, pulling a cigarette from my pocket and lighting it with the other.

Jacob watched us. His eyes grew wide with a mixture of rage and sadness. Celeste sunk into my grip and gazed at her husband lazily. I got the impression this had happened many times before.

"We can speak at _my_ house," she said, her voice turning darker with a kind of sultry flair. She ignored Jacob completely, walking with me toward a small house. The husband followed reluctantly.

The Myeia home was nicely furnished for a slum place. The first things I noticed were the new slipcovers on the couch that stood out against the rest of the room and the slightly faded photos on the walls that showed a happy couple with the faces of the unfaithful woman in my arms and the dreary man she called her husband.

I pulled away from the traitor and latched the door. Jacob watched my every move. Celeste seemed ready to burst, and her voice hissed with a message that made me smile at its odd irony.

"I tell you, any man with the name of Shinra is bad news."

"Oh, I agree. _Believe me_." I leaned in toward the woman and curled my fingers around the back of her neck. I whispered into her ear. "But what happens when a Shinra forsakes that name?"

"_What_?" she asked quickly, her eyes widening. She broke from my grip and backed away from me.

I continued on, so that both of them could hear. "A man who forsakes the name of Shinra becomes something more. He becomes twice as great, with eyes that reach across Midgar, even when he is away from the city."

"What do you…?" the woman stammered.

"I'm an eye." As I reached toward my pocket, Jacob flinched.

"Celeste, _run_!" he yelled, the first thing he'd said since I'd seen him.

How valiant, to defend a woman who would throw you to the dogs if she found a more attractive man.

Valiant, but stupid.

For the first time in my life, I pulled out a gun and pointed it at my enemy's head.

"I thought you were on our side!" Celeste screamed.

"Stop thinking. You're prettier when you don't."

"You can't shoot her! Who are you?" Jacob demanded, stepping in front of his wife.

"I'm a Turk, and you have both committed treason against Rufus and will die for it, by orders from both him and my boss."

Celeste shirked behind the man before her. That coward.

"You will have to kill me first," said Jacob.

"Fine." And I did.

"Please, don't kill me, Sir. I am just an innocent woman who was trapped in the traitorous ways of my husband."

"Shut up, you stupid bitch. Do you really think I'm that gullible?"

"I'll give you anything. I'll get you money, sex…"

"I said to _shut up_. I can get all of that and more when Rufus comes back. Even if I couldn't, I do my job, and my job is to kill you."

"Please, Sir," she pleaded fretfully, sobbing. "Spare me…"

"You're not helping yourself, Lady. In fact, the more you talk, the more I'm gonna enjoy pulling the trigger.

"But I…"

And I shot her. Good riddance, the damned slut.

I nudged her body off of her husband's with my toe. The poor shmuck still stared up at the ceiling. Why that guy was so devoted to her, I'll never know--She didn't deserve it, if you ask me--but I still pity him for it to this day.

I shot Celeste Myeia again for good measure, and stepped out the door.

* * *

The telescreen was replaying Rufus' speech. I stepped through the crowd, which was almost as large as it had been the first time, to get a closer look. The only ones in front of me were the men and women who grasped at the screen, most of whom were disturbingly young. Their faces were drawn and their bodies bony, like they had lived twice their ages in half the time.

I remembered suddenly what it was like to be that way. Compared to my days in the Slums, I realized, I was living in luxury, especially after Rufus had come along.

I pulled the goggles out of my hair, which flopped into my face. I shoved them into my back pocket and stepped even closer to the screen.

And I joined them. I dropped to my knees next to a pregnant woman who smelled like her own vomit, and I raised my hands to the screen.

I felt like grease was being poured over my palms and fingertips. It'd been a long time since I'd felt that dirty.

But it didn't matter, because my hands were on his face.

And he was dirty too, but he still moved with that same grace, that same strength, that same all-knowing sweep of the eyes and tilt of the head that he used to show that he was and always would be above us.

Feeling inferior to someone never felt so good.

* * *

It was my apartment now, I realized when I returned there after the mission. When he'd given me that offer to live with him that he knew damn well I couldn't refuse, I had thought that he was sharing his quarters with me.

But, no. He'd given them to me without my ever knowing it, and I had a sudden realization of what that meant.

He'd known all along that he was gonna leave, and he'd been planning it all right under my nose. The sudden urges to give me shooting lessons, the way he had agreed to take a pet when I knew he never would've otherwise…everything. Now, Dark Nation was his only company. His mother was gone, and I was left in Midgar. I still didn't know why he did it. If all of the shit he had to go through had happened to me, I would have wanted someone there to help me through it, but he made himself more lonely instead.

He did the same thing to me. I realized how much I missed him at that moment.

I hadn't watched the signs, and now look where it had gotten me: Here, alone, in this Rufus-forsaken wasteland of an apartment.

I really looked around there for the first time. The place had always seemed expensive, but I'd never really noticed why.

Everything in Rufus' room was made of wood, not metal.

Midgar, the dead city of steel, held an oasis in its palm. It was organic. It was real.

It was scary as hell.

It was oddly nice, and, in a way, grotesque and out of place. It just absolutely wasn't _right_. It was kind of like Tseng in that way. It was completely foreign, and it somehow looked trapped in a world that wasn't quite its own.

And, in a way, it was impossibly beautiful, and that reminded me altogether too much of Rufus.

I ran my fingers over the wood on the bed frame. It was polished and smooth, and it went well with the silk sheets and soft mattress. It was a bit warmer than metal, and a lot softer. Not that it was squishy or anything, but more that it was more rounded and natural, instead of being cut into the normal squareish kinda shapes you find in metal.

I spent a good bit of time just walking around the room, running my hands over the furniture. At first, I got this weird feeling that it was alive. Then, I realized it was dead. Not like metal, which was never living in the first place, but really dead. It was pulled straight out of the ground, killed, and chopped up to make tables and chairs and shit.

Just like Rufus, to live in an apartment with a bunch of dead trees.

As I slid my fingers over the top of a shelf, I passed an open book with a short note written straight on the page. I recognized the handwriting. It was neat and controlled, but at the same time it flowed over the paper kind of the same way its master glided over the ground when he walked and his words danced out of his lips when he spoke. That handwriting couldn't have been anybody's but Rufus'. The message said this:

"Reno,

My mother gave me this book when I was little, and now I'm giving it to you. It's an anthology of Cetra mythology. I don't see you as the reading type, but I hope that you will take the time to actually go through this, particularly the opening story. Perhaps it will speak to you in the same profound way it did to me.

Sorry Sima's a girl. You'll get what I mean when you read it.

-Rufus"

So, he was right, I didn't really like to read, but this was a gift from him. I looked at the time, and remembered that I was scheduled for a meeting with Tseng to go over the mission report. I left the book where it was and left the room.

The meeting went by without me. I sort of remember walking in and out of Rufus' apartment--My apartment. Sorry, I keep forgetting.--and Tseng's office, but before I knew what had hit me, I was back where I had started with the old little book in my hands, hoping it wouldn't fall apart before I could see what the hell Rufus was talking about by "Sorry Sima's a girl."

So, I sat down on the wooden-framed couch and began to read. This is what I read:

"_In the beginning, there was one soul--the Great Soul--Simayahme, who would birth all other souls. These souls would form the Lifestream, and the Lifestream would form the earth, who Simayahme named Gaia. The sons and daughters of Simayahme were to transcend onto Gaia as its people, the Cetra, and they were to make it fertile and beautiful, a place where the web of souls given life by Simayahme would live and learn as mortal beings, to eventually die and return to the Lifestream and its creator, and then to be reborn again. Only in this way could Gaia, the Great Soul's greatest and most prized creation, live on to transcend the existence of Simayahme itself._

_As it grew old and tired, Simayahme sent its first son, which it named Yu Yahme after itself, onto Gaia to teach its dying words. _

'_You, my Cetra,' said Simayahme to it's son, 'must not make the mistakes of the ones before you, who, through war, hatred, and unpardonable Sin, wiped out their world and their souls, leaving me as the only emissary who could begin the world again. I leave you the beginnings of Gaia so that you may start anew, but beware that what lies dormant within me is the key to the last remnant of my people's corruption. In dying, I leave Gaia and you, my Cetra, but beware of the darkness that my return will bring from within you, for no soul dies forever, and each of you contains a part of their Sin that lies, waiting for the day of my return. But I ask one favor of you, children of Gaia, that you remember me as Simayahme, but that you give my Sin another name.'_

'_Beware, and prepare yourselves and your hearts for the coming of Jenova.'_

_And, with those words, Simayahme broke from the Lifestream, pulling Yu Yahme with him, and it left the earth, leaving its destined son on Gaia's surface._

_But, as Simayahme had severed bonds with Gaia's souls, so had he done to his child, leaving Yu Yahme a stranded, immortal being without means to return to the stream from which he came. _

_Knowing nothing else but the last words of Simayahme, the son began to travel, spreading that dying confession to the open ears of the Cetra. But, as the years went by, Yu Yahme began to grow old and weary of the idea of spending all eternity telling the words of his creator, and it wasn't long until he came upon a new discovery that would further separate him from the Cetra: Anger._

_Seeing this new emotion rage within Yu Yahme, and in realizing that he hadn't aged visibly in his pilgrimage, the Cetra grew to fear him, and, eventually, to worship him. _

_Yu Yahme, whose anger had begun to consume him, relished in this fear and this veneration, and began to regard himself as a god. But, though he was content in his immortality, he soon began to fear the coming of Jenova, and the fact that it would compromise his newfound power and the kingdom that he ruled. So he built weapons in his own fear, earthly Weapons that would protect Gaia--his Gaia--from invasion. _

_And he built himself a tall fortress, where he locked himself away from the Cetra, which only served to let them forget his face and body and to remember him as the Yu Yahme; the name that ruled them from the sky._

_But the Yu Yahme's own delusions of godly grandeur began to fade, and he started to yearn for the simplicity of the people he watched and ruled over every day._

_One day, as Yu Yahme stared angrily over his kingdom of Gaia, he found a small, peaceful family and became entranced by the undying devotion and love that its members showed each other. Even more, he began to grow jealous of how that devotion surpassed their reverence of him. _

_In a fit of rage, he stole the leader of their household, a Cetra woman named Sima, away to his fortress, fascinated that a mere mortal would have the other half to the name that Simayahme had passed onto him. _

_Yu Yahme enslaved that Cetra, and declared Sima to be his concubine, who would give to him the only physical pleasure that would serve to tie him to mortal beings. For a while, Yu Yahme was content to leave his godly mask behind, indulging in earthly pleasures, but, even as the concubine of a deity, Sima grew weary without true love and a family, and, as mortals do, began to die._

_Her master quickly became desperate, unwilling to let the being who completed his name go, believing Sima to be his destined partner for eternity. Remembering what Simayahme had done to him, Yu Yahme grasped Sima's soul as she drifted out of life to keep it from entering the Lifestream. In this way, Yu Yahme made Sima immortal like himself._

_The Cetra wept bitterly at this, for immortality meant that Yu Yahme could keep Sima as his concubine for all eternity. For Sima, this meant having to watch family and friends die off while the only one to live would be her captor._

_But, in seeing Sima's tears, Yu Yahme had a sudden spark of regret. For sorrow was a new emotion to him. He asked Sima for the meaning of those tears, and she said to him, 'They are pieces of my soul that are trying to die as my body cannot.'_

_This further perplexed Yu Yahme, for why would Sima wish to die? In his anger and jealousy, Yu Yahme had grown to know life as the only means of existence, and he asked Sima why she yearned for that which he had never known or wished to know. _

_She replied, 'Without death, I cannot truly live, as light cannot exist without shadow. This is false light; false life. That I live is a lie, and it is the same with you.'_

_Angered by the woman's accusation, Yu Yahme, knowing he couldn't kill her, felt that he had to find the worst means to punish her possible. He asked her, 'What is it you value most in the world?'_

_To which Sima replied, 'There is nothing I value which you have not already taken.'_

_The self-proclaimed deity stared into his concubine's now tearless, unwavering eyes, and what he saw there frightened him. For, though Sima had lived only a fraction of his time, an ancient spark of life showed through that spoke of the wisdom of another world. _

_This spark had never been his. From him it was missing. He looked into his reflection in water and in glass and found nothing, and it quickly began to drive him mad. _

_Sima was the only witness to this transformation, and in seeing it she realized the pain that had lain dormant under Yu Yahme's cruelty._

_One night, after he had taken Sima and fulfilled his carnal desires, she spoke to him, softly and without anger. 'In you I have felt the way that I have been mistaken. I thought that you had trapped me here, but I now see that I was wrong. You are the one who is imprisoned, here in the walls you built and the body that you cannot leave. Now, I see that you brought me here as an attempt at salvation from yourself. I am now ready to fulfill my task. All that I ask in return is that, when you are free, that you free me as well.'_

_Yu Yahme looked into those eyes again, and saw that they were still unwavering and sincere, and he nodded slowly in reply._

_Sima leaned forward slightly and brushed her lips against his. This gesture confused Yu Yahme greatly. For, though Sima was his concubine, he had never asked for a kiss, knowing that to be a sacred pact between her and the family he had stolen her from. _

_Sima simply smiled and left the room._

_From his bedchamber, Yu Yahme heard a terrible scream. He ran toward where Sima had left, finding the Cetra woman face-to-face with a horrific beast. The creature looked at him and let out a screech that sounded of the cries of a world in flames._

_But Yu Yahme was not afraid, as he had looked into the beast's eyes and found a trace of Simayahme._

'_It is me that you seek, Jenova,' said the Yu Yahme. The beast looked at him, and anger showed in its eyes where love had once reigned._

'_You know this creature?' asked Sima, terrified._

'_Yes, this beast is Sin.'_

_Jenova moved quickly toward the confused and startled Sima, but was stopped by Yu Yahme, who stood in the way of the beast and barred its path._

_This was a move that Yu Yahme knew would end his life, robbing him of his immortality. Still with the great, deadly arm of the beast through him, Yu Yahme reached toward his concubine._

'_At this moment, I free you. Your words alone were enough to save me from my prison. The compassion that you showed me was undeserved, and for giving it to me, I thank you.'_

'_You are dying,' said Sima, but her eyes were tearless._

'_I am free.'_

_Jenova pulled from Yu Yahme's body, and the dying man fell, his mouth smiling, the light that Sima had given his eyes fading._

'_You are human,' said Sima to her lover as Jenova killed her, too…"_

It was then, after reading that story, that I realized the only things making me human were that I feel, that I sin, and that I will, one day, die. It was a depressing, oddly sobering realization.

I had never read so much in my life as I did that day, when I found myself completely absorbed in that book. It's really kinda funny, now that I think about it, that I was so fascinated with these legends. They were against everything that I'd ever learned or believed, and I guess that's what made 'em so damn interesting.

But they made perfect sense, in a weird kind of way, and that's what was scary. I had read a lot about Cetra. I knew they existed. It's a historical fact. But, I always just thought they were people--some dying race--who had a bit too much tradition and religion and shit. But that had never really explained the descriptions I'd read of 'em in papers and that I'd seen in the news when the science department released info on one that they'd captured for experimentation.

Every little thing I'd ever read or seen described them as idealistic, naïve, and completely emotionally unstable. Any little depressing thing would set them off into crying fits, nervous breakdowns, or even convulsions.

And then, they just kinda died out. The reports disappeared from the news. Poof. No more Cetra. I had no pity. They needed a reality check.

But, after reading that book, I really started to feel sorry for 'em. That Jenova thing, it said, was the reason for us humans. It corrupted them and turned them into _us_. If that book's right, we aren't just a different culture from the Cetra, but we're actually different on the inside. It's like we're sick.

The Cetra who were left just kind of had to hide in their nice, safe little Jenova-less world until we closed in on them like the poverty of the slums does on kids.

It sucks, really.

I also realized, after reading and re-reading that one story why Rufus apologized to me about that Sima chick. He had wanted me to read that thing because he related to it personally. He was the deity, and I was his concubine. I mean, it wasn't exactly like us, since, yeah, my character was a girl and shit, but there were some things that made it kinda scary.

I mean, think about it. Rufus' father is the one who killed him and had him brought back by Hojo. That made him kind of immortal, and he's talked to me so many times about feeling trapped. He said I made him human, more than any other person, and that's kind of what Sima did to that Yu Yahme guy.

Creepy, I tell ya'.

But the worst part about it is that, if Rufus really feels a connection with Yu Yahme, that means that he sees himself as being like the first of the humans. He sees himself as the worst of us all, and the most corrupt. He was corrupted, and he died and poisoned the Lifestream, screwing the rest of us over. Like his very existence meant the whole world's suffering.

I was suddenly afraid that I might never see Rufus again, because he would try to "free" himself again.

It took eight years for that fear to go away, and, even then, I was always on edge.

**

* * *

**

**Miya's Note: Sorry these past few chapters have been coming so slowly. At this rate, it'll be another year-and-a-half before I finish. Oy. **

**Also sorry this one's shorter than they have been lately. It's a lot closer to the shorter length of the earlier chapters. **

**But, nonetheless, I hope you all liked it. **

**Next chapter is partially written already, and I just need to type the beginning up before I can keep going with it. Expect drama and some new characters, especially the ones I was teasing you about a few chapters ago. :D**


	23. The New Legacy

**Business As Usual**

**Chapter 23: The New Legacy**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: Oh, finally! A new chapter, at last! I've been wanting to get this one up as much as you all probably wanted me to. Believe it or not, I really do hate to keep you all waiting.**

**Remember the format change, with Reno's little intro at the beginning. Just a little reminder, so it doesn't throw you off. This chapter introduces quite a bit of the material for the plot of the next few chapters, as well as revealing who Leanora Richmond, who I teased you guys with a few chapters back, is. The other mystery character, Lucas Feltz, will come in #24. **

**When you get to the Nora part of this chapter, don't be afraid. She's not a Mary Sue, hell-bent on destroying Reno and Rufus. There's a lot more to her than I let on at first, and a big part of the early chunk of this section of the fic revolves around her. **

**

* * *

**

You don't just forget Rufus Shinra. You don't just forget the feel of him, the taste of him, the smell, sight, sound of him. You don't forget him in a day, in a week, in six years or eight years.

That's why, when, six years after he left for Junon to "run Shinra world affairs", and I was _still_ thinking about him, it scared me. And it scared me even more that Rude kept on and kept on telling me that he--meaning Rufus--sure as hell wasn't thinking about me, and that, when he got back, he wouldn't give a rat's ass.

Even scarier was that I started believing Rude, but it didn't change the fact that I kept pining over Rufus. So, six years alone, and I was stuck on someone who I was damn sure didn't spare a single thought about me, and even the best casual sex with the hottest whores in Midgar couldn't make up for the fact that I'd had Rufus once, but didn't anymore.

So I waited. I waited another two years after I had lost all hope of ever continuing what ended the day he left, until I was lying in a hospital bed, half my ribs snapped from meeting up with that AVALANCHE group on a mission to drop one of the plates straight down on top of my very own ex-home, Sector 7.

I was laying in that hospital bed, hurt from a lot more than my injuries, since I had just killed every person on and under that plate for my loyalty to the life-giving phallic symbol in the sky.

I didn't blame AVALANCHE. Sector 7 had been home to me once, but it wasn't anymore. Shinra tower was. But, I recognized one of _them_ as that Tifa chick from Seventh Heaven that Rude had that little crush on once, and I was pretty sure that she probably still thought of that slum as home, sweet home.

When I'd fought her, I'd actually noticed how young she was. She looked in her early twenties, at the most, which would have made her fifteen or sixteen at the oldest when we'd first "met". What an age to be running a bar and have ten-year-older guys hitting on you.

Leave it to the slums.

I suddenly wondered what had happened to the chick who ran the bar before her, back when I'd actually lived there.

Oh well. Didn't matter anyway. No more Sector 7, no more Seventh Heaven bar. All of it a pile of rubble and dead bodies, and I was the heartless bastard who'd set off the charge that made it that way.

That's business as usual for ya'.

So, I laid in my bed, still waiting, trying not to feel guilty for something I couldn't take back.

And then, the waiting stopped.

* * *

Rufus Shinra picked up the phone on his Junon office desk, answering with an unenthusiastic "Yes?"

"Sir, I have some urgent news for you," rang the voice of Janice Jeanne Johanneson, all the way from the Vice President's ex-office in Midgar.

"It's been a long time, Janice. What is it?"

"General Sephiroth has returned, and he stole something from Hojo's laboratory and ran away, killing many vital members of the corporation in the process."

"Alright," answered Rufus unenthusiastically. "What does this have to do with me? Why can't the old man handle it? That sort of thing is no longer my business."

"Sir, the President was one of those killed."

Rufus held the phone, motionless, for a moment. He blinked a few times, allowing the news to set in.

Janice flinched on the other line as she heard laughter coming from the phone. She sat, shocked.

"Janice?" asked Rufus, his voice growing darker.

"Yes, Sir?" asked the secretary, a slight shaking in her voice that Rufus could hear clearly, despite how hard she had tried to conceal it.

"Prepare the office for a new President."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

The helicopter was louder than usual, it seemed, and, by the time it reached Midgar, had become nearly deafening. Rufus stepped off of it onto the balcony outside of his late father's office, his ears ringing. Dark Nation followed its master, scanning the area for any sign of alarm. The blonde held down a hand to calm his pet as they both spotted what lay inside the dead President's office.

This was a dream. This had to be a dream.

Midgar. Rufus hadn't seen Midgar in eight years.

Howard Palmer, leader of the Shinra space program, bounded out of the office toward the blonde man, his large face dripping with sweat. "Sir, Sephiroth was here!" screeched Palmer in almost a wheeze. "I saw him with my very own eyes. He killed your father! I saw it!"

"And why didn't he kill _you_?" hissed Rufus coldly, making no effort to hide his contempt with one of his least favorite employees. "I'm sure the General could have found a better messenger, but I guess you will have to do. Very well, Palmer. Now, leave, before I decide to finish the job."

A strange group filed out of the office, a spiky-headed blond boy in the forefront. Rufus turned to them, his eyes clearly showing his annoyance with the greeting party. "So…so Sephiroth was actually here…"

Palmer ran off with a squeak.

"By the way, who are you guys?" asked Rufus dully.

The leader was first to introduce himself. "I'm Cloud, former SOLDIER First Class!"

The next was a large, imposing man with a gun for an arm. "I'm from AVALANCHE!"

A girl with rather large breasts confirmed that she was from that same group.

The woman behind her, an oddly exotic brunette wearing pink, continued, "…a flower girl from the slums."

And the last, a red, cat-like creature who Dark Nation was growling at ended, to Rufus' slight surprise, "A research specimen."

The blonde, still very obviously uninterested, simply shrugged and pushed a shock of hair out of his eyes. "What a crew. Well, I'm Rufus, _President_ of Shinra Incorporated." The strawberry blonde punched the last few words, unfamiliar with their sound.

"You only President, 'cause your old man died!" rebutted the man with the gun-arm.

"That's right." Rufus shrugged again, his face showing a bit of a smirk. "I'll let you hear my new appointment speech." The new President began to pace, looking over each of the members of the rag-tag group before him. "Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working. The population thought that Shinra would protect them. Work at Shinra, get your pay. If a _terrorist_ attacks…"

Rufus smiled, his eyes glinting slightly.

"…the Shinra army will help you. It all looks perfect on the outside." His voice became suddenly cold, and a few of the group cringed slightly. "But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my 'old man'."

The group watched, mouths slightly agape, as the man in white before them turned his back to them, stepping to the railing of his fortress and looking over the edge. "A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

"He likes to make speeches, just like his father," cut a feminine voice from behind Rufus.

The blonde clenched his hand on the rail.

Rufus heard some commotion behind him. He didn't bother to pay attention to what the new AVALANCHE was saying. He heard a large portion of the group leave, and didn't care. He only turned when he heard the sound of a large sword being drawn. He faced the group's leader, who was standing before him, ready to fight.

"Why do you want to fight me?"

"You seek the Promised Land, and Sephiroth."

"Hm, exactly." Rufus walked dangerously close to Cloud and his sword, and he ran one finger over the blunt side of the blade. "Mm? Did you know that Sephiroth is an Ancient?"

"A lot has happened." Cloud moved his sword slightly, away from the other man's thin fingers. "Either way, I can't let either you or Sephiroth have the Promised Land!"

Rufus simply shrugged, his white teeth showing through a crack in his lips. "I see." The President drew a large, double-barreled shotgun from his coat and aimed it one-handedly at the other blonde's head. "I guess this means we won't become friends." Dark Nation curled around its master's legs, the now large creature's yellow eyes glaring at the enemy. Its almost wolfish snout curled back in a half growl, half hiss that set the AVALANCHE leader's skin crawling. The black of Dark Nation's fur contrasted strongly with the white of Rufus' coat.

Cloud made the first move, responding to a gesture from Rufus for him to begin the fight. The ex-SOLDIER slashed his sword down on Dark Nation's back, and blood marred the creature's black fur. Rufus snarled in a manner very similar to his pet's and fired as the coeurl cast a protection spell on its master.

Cloud slashed at the creature again, and this time, its skull cracked with a sickening crunch. Dark Nation fell, casting a last bolt spell with what power it had left.

Rufus fired as many shots as he could into Cloud while the other man countered with his sword and spells. The ex-SOLDIER slashed one last time, his enormous blade breaking through the protection spell around Rufus and cutting deeply into the man's left shoulder. A helicopter came into view around the Shinra building and hovered over the two men, causing wind to ruffle their hair and the dead coeurl's fur.

"That's all for today," said Rufus calmly.

Cloud slashed the air as Rufus sidestepped to avoid him, jumping first to the balcony's railing and then into the air, where he grabbed onto the helicopter's runner with his injured arm. And the helicopter flew off, with Rufus putting his gun back into his jacket and waving at the enemy with a sarcastically cordial smile and a laugh.

* * *

His name was Cloud Strife. Rufus ran a finger over his keyboard, tapping down on a few keys absently as he stared at the file. Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER, now a member of AVALANCHE.

That would serve him well.

At least the boy could fight. This was a good fact, because then he and his ragtag group of friends could be of some help to him. Let them go after Sephiroth, that psychopath. Then, if they got too out of hand, Rufus would take care of them. Until then, he was quite content to let them go, running on a wild goose chase after a crazy, problematic General.

The blonde scratched at some blood that hadn't been quite cleaned off of his new desk.

The blood of his own father.

Thank you very much, General Sephiroth, for killing the old man. Now you get to die, too.

Any man who thought Rufus Shinra above using his enemies for his own gains had underestimated the new President.

He would have to torture this Cloud Strife, though. Just a little. Bastard killed his pet.

QQQQQQQQ

Rufus ran a finger over the clipboard that hung outside of the restricted Shinra infirmary. He read the short list of patients assigned to the room, and smiled slightly when his finger stopped on the name Reno Kiribani.

A nurse stepped out of the room, looking over the man's cuts and wounds with wide eyes. Rufus handed her his identification.

She bowed her head slightly, never taking her eyes from his form. "Sir, I will get you a doctor right away."

"No need, I assure you. Just tell the lead doctor to give Mr. Kiribani a message that I wish to speak to him, and not to disturb our meeting, for any reason."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

It was a disturbing thing for Reno Kiribani to wake up in his hospital bed a mere two nights after he had snapped a rib and cracked two on his mission to bring down a massive metal plate on top of Sector 7 to find the new doctor--a burly and imposing giant of a man--standing over him and telling him "The President wishes to see you."

Reno's eyes opened wide. "Say that again?"

"The President wishes to see you," repeated the doctor like a recording.

The redhead didn't exactly know what to say to that, except for "Tell him I'm…in…a coma or something."

"Whatever," grumbled the doctor gruffly.

Reno, soon after, heard footsteps coming in his direction. He had to concentrate very hard to keep his body from visibly tensing up. The steps echoed through the infirmary in light, rhythmic "tap-_tap_, tap-_tap_s" of a man walking from toe-to-heel instead of the normal heel-to-toe pattern that most people used.

This was not the booming sound of President Shinra's footsteps that he had expected to hear.

But then…?

The taps stopped by his bed. Reno kept his breathing as slow and steady as he could; kept his eyes closed as if asleep.

Fingers rested on his left cheek, and the breath caught in his throat.

"I know you better than that. You're not really in a coma, are you, Reno? Thought I was _him_, did you?" came the call of a ringing tenor voice that seemed to the redhead slightly more gravelly than he remembered.

"You're…you're back." The Turk opened his eyes to greet the back of a tall strawberry blonde man in white who was closing the curtain around the bed.

"Fancy meeting you here, of all places. You could even say it's just like old times." Rufus smirked at the redhead. Reno noticed that the lines in the blonde's face had grown deeper over time. His hair was shorter and mostly slicked back, except for a couple of locks that fell in front of his eyes. It was a bit of a shock to see Rufus like that, where age had actually begun to take its toll.

Like any normal person.

"I hear that you had a run-in with AVALANCHE, too," continued the blonde, leaning slightly over the bed. "Although, you look in considerably worse shape than I. The doctor said it was broken ribs. How did that happen?"

"I had to collapse the plate, and I got in a spat with that spikey-headed Cloud guy and his friends."

"I fought this 'Cloud', as well. He was quite strong, and an Ex-SOLDIER."

"That explains the eyes."

"Yes."

"Rufus?"

"Yes, Reno?"

"Did you have anything to do with that order?"

"The one to collapse the plate?" Rufus tilted his head as Reno nodded slightly. "No, I didn't. The first I heard of it was the damages and casualties report that came to me afterwards. Father didn't exactly keep me informed of Midgar current events while I was away."

"At least that's good to know." Reno turned his head to the side and stared at the sheets. "Do you know how long it's been, Rufus?"

"Eight years. Yes, I know. Over eight years."

"You just left."

"I know," said Rufus solemnly.

"And then you just didn't come back. _For eight years_."

"But he's dead now."

"Your father?"

"Yes. Sephiroth killed him, according to Palmer. I found him, slumped over his desk, a massive, gaping hole in his chest. It looked like his coat was melting with the blood, you know."

"Morbid as ever, I see."

"I heard his new wife was just as happy as I was. He'd forced her to marry him, just like the fucker always does, and in the last few month, too. I sent her a percentage of what money he had actually owned and set her on her way. Never met the bitch, but I heard she was sleeping around with another one of the employees. I bet he's a happy man, now."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't change the subject, Rufus."

"I've been waiting for this day, Reno."

"You?" Reno caught himself before he could yell louder, hushing down into a fierce hiss. "You're the one who _left_ Midgar, remember? You have the money to take a plane or a helicopter across the world every once in a while to come visit or something, and you couldn't get fired if you did. What about _me_, Rufus? One day, you're there. The next, you're gone, and I don't hear anything from you except a note in a book and those same speeches you gave to every drug dealer and whore in the slums! And, every day, for _eight years_, Rufus--Do you know how long that is?-- I hoped Tseng'd give me a mission report that said I was going to Junon."

"You know it wasn't easy for me to leave like that, and that it would have been impossible for me to return before this day."

"No, I don't, Rufus. Oh, and guess what. I did go on a mission to Junon once, but it was on the wrong side of the city, and Rude was there with me to keep me from running to the other side and…well, I don't know if I would've fucked you or strangled you if he had let me go."

"Reno, listen to me," Rufus whispered in a dangerously dark tone as he pushed down slightly on the redhead's chest.

Reno gasped in pain, Rufus' light, deliberate touch like a fresh stab wound on the broken ribs under it.

"You feel how I hurt you, and how little it affects me to do so. You know how dangerous I am."

"I…don't care," Reno groaned slowly, grabbing the blonde's hand and pulling it slowly against his chest.

Rufus simply let him, and didn't recoil, or even flinch, as he felt one of the Turk's cracked ribs break further.

Reno screamed in agony.

"You're killing yourself, Reno."

"So _stop_ me."

Rufus pulled his hand free from Reno's grasp. "Give me permission, Reno."

"_What_?"

"Give me permission to feel." Rufus took of the fingerless gloves he wore and laid his head on the hospital bed next to Reno's right hand. "I haven't felt in eight years, since the day I left my soul in Midgar."

"Why did you leave? I still don't understand. Why?"

"I couldn't stand it…I couldn't stand to feel. I couldn't stand the pain of losing her; that renewed fear of losing you, so I left, and every day I spent in Junon, I learned to die again."

"Why do you want me to give you permission? How does a word from me let you feel again?"

"Because, at this moment, I fell nothing for you. You can change that. You're the only one who can make me feel."

"Don't you hate emotions? Why do you want that back?"

"Because you do."

Reno tried to move to look at the blonde, but had to stop for the pain. He had sounded so somber, so sincere. Rufus' emotions didn't seem to have died out, but to have strengthened over time.

Or, perhaps Reno was just hearing things out of sheer hope that a Rufus he tricked himself into remembering was the same as the man whose hair was brushing over his fingers.

The Turk was startled by movement, followed by the feeling of Rufus' right hand on his own. He had never really paid attention to the blonde's hands before. They always looked deceptively fragile, but the fingers that laced in between the Turk's at that point were thin but terribly strong.

The skin that covered Rufus' palms was surprisingly rough, albeit still considerably softer than Reno's. The way their fingers interlocked reminded Reno of the way their bodies had begun to fit perfectly together before Rufus had left.

He wondered, briefly, if they would have enough memory of their tough left for that to still be true.

"So?" asked Rufus.

"Yeah?"

"Do I have your permission?"

"Yeah, Rufus." Reno let his fingers curl around Rufus' knuckles, and he scraped his nails slightly on the back of the other man's hand. Rufus followed the redhead's lead, pushing his nails--which Reno noted were the same as always, slightly longer than should have been normal for a man, and quite a bit sharper--into the Turk's skin.

The pain this caused was only slight, but it was enough to cause Reno to react, doing the same gesture to his partner. Rufus' grip went lax, and his fingers arched back between the redhead's.

To Reno's surprise, one of his nails broke skin, and he stopped.

"It is quite alright," said Rufus, noting the suddenly apologetic expression on the Turk's face. "I have done far worse to myself, or did you not feel the scars?"

Reno pulled the blonde's hand into his line of vision, running his left index finger over a few of the deepest scars there. Some looked like cuts, some of them fresher than others, and one looked like a shot wound. Some of these he knew the origin of. Rufus had explained to him once how he had cut himself repeatedly to raise pain tolerance in his hands, in preparation for wounds such as the shot he knew had come from the blonde's late father.

Others, he realized, were still pink, as if they weren't quite finished healing.

"You did this to yourself?"

"Yes. Is that so surprising?"

"A little, but I guess I should've kind of expected it. Was it just your hands?"

"No."

"No, of course not."

Rufus leaned over the bed so that Reno could see him. "Do not fret, Reno. It stopped hurting a long time ago."

"You sound bitter."

"Perhaps."

"Where are the others?"

"Everywhere, but the freshest ones are on my throat."

"That explains the new shirt," Reno said dully, noticing the turtleneck that had replaced the various different styles of dress shirt the blonde had used to wear.

"Yes."

Reno reached up slightly, but not far enough to touch the blonde. Rufus stopped him, cupping his mutilated hands around the Turk's. Looking at them, Reno found them almost grotesquely beautiful, deformed as they were through years of masochism and outside injury.

"I want to see them, your others scars."

"No, you don't. You won't like what you see."

"Just let me."

Rufus let go of the Turk's hands and leaned over farther. Rough fingertips scraped over Rufus' skin as the redhead pushed the black turtleneck down to expose a number of surprisingly long, slender slash wounds that, had they been much deeper, could have easily been fatal.

"Those are still fairly fresh, Rufus. This one here still has some scabbing." He ran a finger over it to show. "How old is this? A week, maybe?"

"About four days, I think."

"If it doesn't hurt, then why do you still do it? The blood? The scars?"

"Yes." Rufus leaned down farther and hovered over the Turk. "Because if nobody has ever seen me bleed or cry, at least I must."

"I've seen you."

"You weren't there."

"That's your fault."

"Yes, it is."

"I really do wanna understand you, but I don't know if I ever will."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't get how anybody could sit down and decide one day, 'I'm going to take this knife and slit my own throat repeatedly,' and then do it, just to see himself bleed."

"You understand me better than you think." The blonde propped himself up, placing his elbows around Reno's head. He leaned even farther down, brushing his lips over the scars on the Turk's cheeks. "You did this for me, remember? And for no reason other than the blood. For your 'tears', remember?"

"But you did _that_ for yourself."

"No, Reno. Not just for me. Sometimes, I would think to myself that the Lifestream can feel you bleed."

"Repentance?"

"Sometimes. Others, a plea for freedom, and still others a cry for help. I wonder, did you ever hear me?"

Reno searched Rufus' eyes. For what, he didn't know, but he searched, perhaps for a spark of familiarity or for a clue to help him solve the blonde's greatest mysteries. "I don't know," he said after a few moments of fruitless searching. "I was too busy wallowing in my own shitty life to pay much attention to any cries in the Lifestream."

Rufus began to open his mouth to speak, but Reno cut him off.

"I want you to show me. I wanna see you bleed for me."

"When you've healed," the blonde replied calmly.

"Fine." Forgetting for a moment about his broken ribs, Reno tried to sit up. He fell back, frustrated and in agony. "I want to kiss you."

Rufus leaned to just over Reno's reach. "I thought that you were angry at me."

"That's why I want to kiss you.'

Rufus smiled slightly at that. "Of course." The blonde climbed up onto the bed, straddling Reno's waist, and their lips met.

Reno took in the still-familiar taste of Rufus' mouth. The blonde seemed to always carry the metallic under taste of blood, which lay hidden under the bitterness of vodka, and that under a semi-sweetness that Reno didn't know the origin of, save for it being held on Rufus' tongue.

It kind of reminded him of chocolate and toothpaste, but not quite, and a thousand times more satisfying.

Reno realized suddenly that he had gained quite a taste for the bittersweet.

He dug his fingers into the back of the blonde's neck, through the neck of the shirt he had donned to hide his personal retribution. The Turk pulled the other man close to him, ignoring the overwhelming pain it caused him.

Eight years. They would make up for those eight years in this single meeting, even if it killed them, and that was a large possibility, Reno realized as he pulled Rufus even closer, and couldn't stop himself from screaming into the blonde's mouth.

Rufus wrapped one hand behind his lover's neck and the other behind his head and slowly picked him up from the bed.

Reno's body went into shock. His breath caught in his throat and his arms went limp. One of those arms came down upon something on the bedside table, causing it to topple with a crash and a shatter.

Rufus stopped in his passionate assault and looked at the table. The broken pieces of a delicate vase littered the bedside. A small card floated with already dying flowers in the water that had spilled from it.

"What is _this_?" Rufus sneered smoothly to the shaking figure of his lover. He smiled sinisterly toward Reno's wide eyes, pulling a small vial from his jacket, pouring its contents into the redhead's mouth.

"What…?" was all that Reno could choke out before Rufus began to stroke at his throat to help the liquid down.

"Elixir, dear. What did you think? Poison, perhaps?" Rufus turned, still straddling Reno's now slightly shaking form, holding the vial under the table's edge and catching drops of water in it as they fell. He reached for the card before it could follow the pool off of the surface.

"No…" Reno gasped, and the blonde closed one terribly mutilated hand over his throat.

"Oh, so Reno has a _secret_, I see?" the new President hissed, his words morphing into a deadly laugh. "Let's have a look, shall we?"

Reno tried to protest, but the grip tightened around his neck, and his lips, still tinged deep red from the pull of the kiss only moments before could only open and close futilely, and small streams of saliva ran down his cheeks from the corners of his mouth.

"Reno," read Rufus from the slightly water-smudged ink, adding nails to the still-tightening grasp. "Get well soon, Baby. I miss you. Love, Nora."

That red began to drain from the Turk's lips, to be replaced with a pale blue. He tried to gasp for air, but couldn't.

Rufus let go with a laugh.

"Love, Nora," the blonde repeated darkly. "Is there something I should know, Reno?"

The redhead let out a small squeak, still trying to regain his breath and dabbing at the spit on his face and the blood on his neck from the small cuts from the other man's nails.

"Who is she, Reno?"

Reno shook his head, his eyes wide and pleading, the Mako treatments the doctor had given him showing through clearly.

Rufus gave up on gaining a response from the Turk, and stood, opening the curtain around the bed. "Doctor," Rufus called, and the man walked toward him. "Who sent these flowers?"

"Leanora Richmond, Sir: Mister Kiribani's girlfriend. She checks up on him every day."

Rufus smiled, looking down at Reno. "Well, tell Ms. Richmond that I am terribly sorry about the flowers."

There was a glint in his eyes that Reno didn't like in the least.

As Rufus walked from the infirmary, he pulled a Mako needle from a table, injected the contents calmly straight into the injury in his arm, and said, "Get well soon, Reno."

* * *

"How is he, Doctor?" asked a young woman as she strode quickly into the infirmary, her heels clicking lightly on the tiles.

"Ms. Richmond?"

"Yes, Sir. Is Reno alright? Will he be out soon?"

"I'm sorry, Miss, but I'm afraid there have been some slight complications, and his recovery has been delayed further."

"Nora?" asked a quiet voice from behind one of the room's curtains.

The sound of Leanora Richmond's heels started back up, followed by the whooshing of a curtain being moved. "What happened?" she asked, kneeling down next to Reno's bed.

"It's nothing. I'm okay."

"Are you sure? The doctor said that you were going to be here even longer. Something must've happened."

"It's nothing, really. I just tried to get out of bed early again, and ended up hurting myself even more."

Nora sighed, shaking her head. She laughed slightly, smiling warmly at the redhead. Her bright blue eyes glinted with mischief. "You're so silly, always trying to speed things up, and all it ever does is get you into trouble."

"Yeah, that's all." Reno noticed that the woman at his bedside was looking at the empty table beside her. "Your flowers died," said Reno in response. "I didn't want to get rid of them, but Doc insisted. He said they could be a health hazard."

The doctor was about to speak, but Reno silenced him with a glare.

The woman simply shrugged. "I'll just have to get you some new ones, then. Maybe silk this time, so they don't die on you?" Her face became suddenly somber. "Did you hear what happened upstairs? I was so worried. I had just hoped that he hadn't gotten down here to you."

"Yeah, I heard from the best source around."

"Oh, yeah, and who is _that_, hm?" Nora smirked slightly, giving a look that seemed to jokingly challenge the redhead to say any name but hers.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I just thought you'd be impressed that I know somebody as important as Rufus Shinra himself!" Reno suddenly regretted that he had mentioned that name.

Nora's eyes opened wide. "Oh, really? Well, I just hope he's nothing like his father was."

Reno grimaced. "No, _nothing _like his father. Believe me. I didn't like Shinra much, and he didn't like me. What, you knew him?"

Nora paused for a moment. "No, I just met him a couple of times, doing work for the company." Her face grew especially pale. "He was…vile."

Reno laughed. "You can say that again."

"He was vile."

"You're cheesy."

Nora grinned, standing and placing her hands on her hips "I know. But who's the one talking here? You're the King of Cheese, so it's appropriate that you'd have a queen that could stand up to your level of _finely aged dairy product_."

"What?" Reno and Nora laughed at the odd expressions that formed on both of their faces at that comment. "You are a bizarre woman, you know that?"

"I can't believe I actually just said that," giggled the woman, clasping her hands over her mouth to let only those sky-like eyes and the bangs of her strawberry blonde hair show.

"I can. You artists always come up with the weirdest shit."

"I'm not an artist yet, Reno."

"Sure you are. One of your pieces made it into the last exhibition, remember?"

"That was only because my boss was trying to keep me happy so that I could get more funding from the Shinra."

"And? The critics liked it, didn't they?"

"I guess."

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself. C'mon. In the last two months alone, you went from some measly janitor or something to Vice Curator. You're a businesswoman, _and _you have talent."

"You flatter me."

"Gotta keep a lady happy, right?"

Nora's eyes brightened further, and she bit her bottom lip for a moment. "I just got an idea."

"What?"

"I can do a painting."

"Of what?"

"Your flowers, so that you can get better faster."

"How will a floral painting help me heal? You know, I'm not much a flower person."

"But you're in the hospital. I have to keep sending you flowers and get well cards, or you'll never get better. That's just the way the world works."

"Maybe your world."

"Fine. I'll make them dying flowers, like the ones the doctor got rid of, only these won't be a health hazard because they'll only be a picture."

"You don't have to do that. Plus, I'll probably be out of here before you're anywhere close to finishing them."

"Scary, man-eating flowers then? You'd like that better?"

"Nora, are you even listening to me?"

"Nope." She grinned and turned her back to the redhead, the back of her hair swishing as she did. She traced out a rectangle on the wall. "And they can go here, and stare at you while you sleep and give you nightmares until you're too scared to stay in bed any longer."

Reno sighed. "Nora, why don't you go paint it, then?"

She turned back toward him, a little puzzled by his sudden change in tone. "Reno, what's wrong?"

"I just don't think it's safe for you to be coming to see me so much anymore."

"What? Why not?"

"There's been a lot of shit happening around here, and it's getting dangerous. I don't want to see you get involved in that."

"I'm strong enough to take care of myself, believe me."

"You sound like someone I know."

"Well, I _am_ strong enough. And I'm not leaving, because right now you're not capable of protecting yourself, so I'll be right here so that I can get you out of trouble if it comes along."

"Thanks, Nora, but I really don't want you getting involved in all this."

The strawberry blonde looked at Reno with uncertainty, her eyes turning into slits. "All this? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Nora, please. I don't want to go through this. I just need you to leave. It's dangerous here. Plus, I need some time to myself."

She shrugged, her face showing disappointment. "Fine. I'll be back tomorrow to check up on you, whether you like it or not. I do have some work here, after all."

"Bye, babe."

"Goodbye, Reno." Leanora Richmond kissed her significant other's forehead and left, the sound of her heels fading away.

* * *

Reno stared at the ceiling. He was sore from his injuries, and he couldn't sleep. He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything, really, except stare at the ceiling.

So, that's exactly what he did. And the ceiling, like one of Nora's canvases, lay as the base for the pictures that played through his mind. Memories, from the past eight years.

"_She looks like Rufus," said Rude dully, taking off his sunglasses so that he could properly glare at his best friend._

"_Hey, at least she's a she. You told me to get myself a babe to try and get over Rufus, so I did. She's a nice girl, and she's got all the necessary parts, so stop bitchin' at me. No dick. Boobs and a cooch. That's all you said."_

"_Don't get so testy, Reno. I'm just trying to help. You could use a nice, normal relationship with a girl to get you back to the old you. Remember him? The one that used to go to bars and get drunk with me and look at the chicks. The womanizer, who always used to be able to charm a lady's pants off with a look and smirk. I knew him for about a month, and then he became the Vice President's bitch and turned into a angsty teenage girl."_

"_Wow, Rude. That's the most you've said in…how long?"_

"_Oh, I dunno, ever since everyone around me stopped listening to a damn word I was saying. Why talk, if people just ignore you?"_

"_And you're calling me bitchy. Mr. 'Nobody wants to talk to me! I'm so sad!' You're just pissed off 'cause I'm still hotter than you and can still get all the good babes."_

"_That look like Rufus."_

"_Feck off."_

"_No thanks, Reno. That's what your she-Rufus is for."_

"_Her name is Leanora, by the way."_

"_Whatever. She'll probably just turn out to be another one-night stand like the rest of them."_

Reno laughed at that memory. Yeah, if Nora was a one-night stand, that had been a helluva long night. More like two years.

She just happened to be the unlucky one who was still around when _he_ came back.

In what was now his office, the new President of Shinra Electric Power Company smiled as the vice curator of the Midgar Museum of Fine Arts stood before him to negotiate new funding proposals.

* * *

**Miya's Note: All that I'm gonna say is "FINALLY!" And I hope you all enjoyed the little bit of actual FF7 material in this one. That section was fun to write, except for poor Dark Nation. I really did like the coeurl, although it was cuter as a kitten-puppy. **


	24. Identity Crisis

**Chapter #24: Identity Crisis**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: Yay! I got this one up pretty quickly, compared to the last few. Aren't you all proud of me. I will warn you, though. This is quite the twisted one. I also introduce the other mystery character here. This one's dialogue-intensive, I'll warn you. **

**I really hope you all like it. **

**

* * *

**

It was the scariest feeling in the world, to be trapped in a hospital bed with no control over myself or the things that were happening around me, especially _these_ things.

So, yeah, I was happy He was back. But that didn't change the fact that my little relationship with Nora was going to cause problems.

Rufus was pissed. I kind of don't blame him, though. After all, he spent eight years waiting for his father to die so that he could finally come back.

You know, back to me.

But I couldn't just tell Nora, "I'm sorry. It's over, Hon. I'm going back to my ex now. Oh, by the way, my ex…yeah, he's a guy, and the President."

That would not have made for a pleasant situation.

Plus, Nora; she was in love with me. Fully and completely. I would watch guys hit on her at parties, and she wouldn't spare an extra second to them. "Sorry, I have a boyfriend," is all she would say. And then, if they didn't listen, she'd give them a look that would wither the strongest man from his ego to his pants and walk away. Then, she'd come to me and tell me how much she loved me and how those guys were nothing compared to me. And I would smile at her, and I would say "I love you, too."

But, I lied to myself about that fact. I'd been with her for two years. It had to be love, right? Yeah, she was attractive, and a nice girl. She was smart, she was funny, she could take care of herself. We didn't fight like Rufus and I did. She was loyal to a T. She was a strong businesswoman. She was good in bed. She was everything a man could ever want in a girl. And, when Rude would ask me if I loved her, I would always say "Yes", without a pause.

I was in denial. I was lying to her, to my friends, and to myself.

I never did love Leanora Richmond.

Even then, though I wouldn't have admitted it, that spot in my heart was reserved. And, even then, I knew that whatever he did to her, I would allow it.

I was powerless against him. Powerless in my little hospital bed.

* * *

Leanora Richmond's heels tapped over the floor of the Shinra Research and Development library.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked the librarian, a man with blonde hair and bright brown eyes that, facially, reminded Nora startlingly of herself when she glanced over at him.

"No, I'm quite alright. I'm just looking for a book on the prototype weapons that have been developed in the past couple of years."

"Now why would a nice, young lady like yourself be interested in something like that?" asked the librarian, trying to get around Nora to look at her face.

"I'm just studying up on my boyfriend's weapon. It's an interesting little thing, really, and I kind of wanted to see if I could figure out a bit about how it works. He just kind of uses it, but never really asked about what all goes into it."

"So, you like that kind of thing?"

"I find it fascinating, yes." Nora stopped and looked square at the man. "And what would your name be?"

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. It was really rude of me not to introduce myself." The man adjusted his black-framed glasses on his nose and held out his hand for Nora to shake. "I'm Lucas Feltz, but everyone around here just calls me Feltz, because that's what I went by when I was in SOLDIER."

"Leanora Richmond. Nora for short."

"Nice to meet you, Nora."

"It's mutual, Mr. Feltz."

The librarian laughed. "Feltz is fine. I'm not that important. No need to get all formal with me."

Nora simply smiled. "Now, would you be so kind as to help me find that book? You do work here, right?"

Feltz laughed nervously. "Oh, wow, I'm so sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"No, really. I was just kind of taken aback. You just don't find beautiful women in here very often."

Nora raised an eyebrow. "Do I detect a bit of _flirting _in your voice?"

Feltz began to turn red, and turned to the shelves. "Uhm…books, books, oh how I love books…" he went on in a bit of a sing-song voice, in an attempt to hide the embarrassment there. "Ah, here you go, Ms. Richmond. I found what you were looking for."

Nora took the book, flipping through it. Feltz scuffed the toe of one boot on the ground. "Is it what you need?"

"Yes, exactly. Here it is, the electro-mag rod." The woman smiled. "Thank you."

The ends of the librarian's mouth twitched upward nervously, and he laughed slightly.

"Don't worry. This won't be the last time you see me here. But don't expect anything too drastic to go on between us. Remember that I do have a boyfriend."

The man's smile dropped.

"I'm sorry, but I had to be frank with you. I am a woman of honor."

Feltz nodded, holding his hand out. "Well, I will see you around, I guess, Ms. Richmond?"

"Nora."

"I'll see you around, Nora."

"Friends?"

The man smiled. "Yeah, friends."

The sound of Nora's heels faded away, leaving Feltz with a half-smile on his face.

* * *

Rufus sat at his new desk, looking over the various computer monitors there. He smiled. He had known his father was paranoid and a control freak, but he hadn't really paid attention to what the use of half of those monitors was.

They were wired into the security cameras, and Rufus just happened to have looked at the perfect one. There she was, Leanora Richmond, speaking with the Research and Development librarian. He watched the two interact, fascinated.

As Nora left the library, Rufus, too, stood from his desk and left his office.

Lucas Feltz saluted out of reflex when the new President walked into his library.

"What is your name, Sir?" asked Rufus to the man.

"Feltz, Mr. President, Sir. Lucas Feltz."

"Mr. Feltz, I have a very important assignment for you."

"What is it, Sir? Anything, Sir."

"I need for you to keep contact with the woman who just left here, and for you to report the entirety of all conversations that you have with her to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Drop the formalities, please. I don't need another yes-man. Just do the job, starting with a report of the meeting that just transpired. On paper, please, when you have some time off."

Feltz nodded.

"Get back to work." And Rufus patted the man on the back and walked out. Feltz watched him, a little afraid, and much more confused.

Why would Nora be under surveillance by the President?

* * *

"I got a new friend today, I think."

"That's nice."

"He's a librarian."

"That's nice, hon."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you."

Reno kind of shrugged as best he could in his condition.

"Reno, there's something wrong. I can hear it in your voice."

"Yeah, there is."

"I don't understand."

"You don't need to."

"Fine." And Nora walked out, the sound of her heels sharper than usual, in what Reno could tell was obvious anger.

* * *

It was weeks later that Reno Kiribani was released from the infirmary, and the man was relieved to find that nothing much had changed. Nora was unharmed. Rufus was still settling into his new job, and would be having his official welcoming ceremony soon in his second home of Junon.

Things seemed to be going surprisingly well, and this only worried Reno more.

He walked slowly through Rufus' new office doors, still sore from his old injuries. The new President looked far more regal than the old behind the bulletproof glass of the desk. The reflection of the sun that only reached the very top floors of the Shinra building over the smog reflected off the white of Rufus' coat like off of snow and gave him a kind of a glow.

The blonde looked up and smiled.

"I was wondering how much longer it was going to be for you to heal."

"I'm surprised. You haven't done anything yet."

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I'm talking about Nora."

Rufus smirked, his teeth and eyes both flashing slightly, like a predator's. "No, I haven't done anything _yet_. What did you expect?"

Reno found himself shivering slightly, even though it wasn't in the least bit cold in the office. "And you had better not, Rufus."

"Or you'll…?"

Reno faltered.

"Don't worry. I'm just watching her right now. I'm not planning anything at the moment."

"How about you just leave my girlfriend alone, since you're the one who left me here alone in the first place? If you're gonna punish anyone, you should punish me. She has nothing to do with any of this."

"You know, I did notice that she looks a bit like me in ways. Was that intentional?"

"Shut the fuck up, Rufus."

"Ooh, somebody's grown a set of balls, I see. Gotten some independence since I left, hm?"

"Yeah, I guess I have." Reno sneered darkly. "Just leave Nora alone."

"I will, until she does something that prompts me to do otherwise."

"Like what?"

"I don't know yet."

"You always have been a loose cannonball. That's one of the things I hate about you."

"There's a lot to hate about me."

"I do, Rufus. Hate you."

"I know." The blonde laughed. "I hate me, too."

Reno grunted, and left the office.

* * *

"Feltz, can I tell you something?" Nora asked in mid-stride, the sound of heels absent because she had taken her shoes off to run better.

Lucas Feltz turned very quickly at the sound of the fear in her voice.

"Feltz, please, I need to tell somebody."

The librarian stood stock-still, staring at the tears streaming from the bright, blue eyes. "Nora, I don't know if that's…"

"Please, Feltz!" Nora almost shrieked.

And she dropped to her knees, shaking violently with silent sobs.

Feltz looked around, taking a chance glance at the security camera above their heads. He dropped down next to the woman, and whispered into her ear. "Nora, yes, you can tell me, but we have to go somewhere else. I think we may be being watched."

Leanora Richmond looked up and nodded slowly.

The man grabbed her lightly by the wrist, and led her into a small office, the doors of which were almost hidden in the corner of the library. "What is it?"

"I have to leave here. I can't do this to him."

"Who?"

"Reno."

"Is that your boyfriend?"

"Yes. He can't know about this. It could ruin his job, and his life."

"What is it?"

"Feltz, I need you to help me. I'm running away, into the slums where he won't find me."

"Nora, the slums? Do you know how dangerous it is down there?"

"I don't care. I can't go to the plate, because it'll be too easy to track me down, and I can't leave Midgar, because I still have to try and keep contact with the museum."

"I don't understand. Why…?"

"Feltz, I'm pregnant."

The librarian gaped. "How long?"

"A couple of months."

"I'll help you. I promise. I'll do whatever I can, if it's for you."

* * *

Rufus smiled at what lay on his desk. "So, he's _keeping secrets_, now." The President read the paper again, remembering what he had seen on the security monitor earlier that day. In scrawling handwriting that looked far too rushed to be an innocent commentary on the conversation that had transpired, Lucas Feltz's report simply said, "_Nothing interesting today with Nora. Same old, same old."_

The blonde laughed, and told Janice over the intercom to call the librarian into his office.

Feltz seemed to be crumpling under the cold gaze of his superior from the moment he walked in. "Sir, I…"

"Don't finish that. In fact, do not speak until you are given permission."

Feltz didn't.

"Now, I am sure that you know that I am not someone to be toyed with. Is this correct, Mr. Feltz?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And, you do understand that there are consequences for lying to me, which, as you know from being a military man, is _treason_, correct?"

"Affirmative, Sir."

"Now, I would like you to tell me exactly what transpired inside of your office today. I assure you, I saw you and Ms. Richmond attempting to avoid detection."

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't do that. That woman trusts me with her life."

Rufus smiled at that. "Well, I did tell you I didn't want another yes-man."

"What?"

"I have learned to have a certain appreciation for upright defiance. So rare. So unusual."

Feltz could do nothing but stare.

"But, that doesn't change the fact that I need to know what really happened in that room. I assure you that I am a fair man, and that I will not harm Ms. Richmond unless she is doing something that compromises me or this company."

"I…I don't know. She was just scared."

"Scared of…?"

"She didn't want to tell her boyfriend…"

Rufus found himself leaning forward on his desk. His eyes grew colder.

"…that she's carrying his child."

Rufus burst into positive hysteria.

* * *

Leanora Richmond visited the library again the next day. Lucas Feltz smiled slightly, his face downcast. "Are you ready?"

Nora thought he looked a bit odd.

She let that thought go, excusing it as worry. After all, he was her friend, and she wasn't only leaving Reno, but him as well.

"I'm ready," she said with a nod.

Feltz wasn't looking at her as he led her from the room.

"How are we going to get out?" Her heart beat loudly, its beats almost muffling the sounds of her own voice and Feltz's.

"Don't worry. Act natural."

She nodded. The two of them walked easily from the library, their bodies as relaxed as possible, as if they were going to get a cup of coffee. They left the library, and went into the glass elevator.

Instead of going to the 61st floor and the café, they pushed the button for the lobby.

And they walked straight out of the doors of Shinra tower.

To those they passed, it looked very natural, like two friends out for a stroll on the plate. But the closer they got to the train station that would take Nora to the slums, the more uneasy she could feel the energy that surrounded Lucas Feltz become. The two of them stepped into a small alleyway.

Feltz handed Nora a fake I.D., and as she looked down at it, the woman felt a cold pain shoot through her body.

"Feltz, what…?" Nora looked up at the man, and he smiled at her.

No, it wasn't right. This man was not Lucas Feltz. There was something _wrong_ with how he looked.

"I am sorry, but I couldn't let you run, Ms. Richmond," said the voice of the man. She hadn't noticed how much colder it was than her friend's.

"Why…?" Nora felt the pain sharpen. She looked down at herself and saw blood where the knife had been pulled away. Blood covering the skin over where her womb should have been.

Right through her body and her child.

She fell, her ankle twisting from one high-heeled shoe.

The man who should have been Lucas Feltz looked down at the body through black-rimmed glasses and brown colored contacts.

"It wasn't your fault. Not until you tried to run away."

* * *

On the edge of a road that had never been completed because it had been meant for a Midgar expansion project that had fallen through, Lucas Feltz stood, gagged and afraid. He looked through foggy eyes at what seemed to be a carbon-copy of himself.

The gag was removed from his mouth. "What have you done with her?"

"She's dead, but I will give you the chance to escape."

Feltz recognized that voice. "Why did you kill her? What did she ever do to you? You promised me that you wouldn't hurt her if she hadn't done anything to you."

Rufus Shinra, in the guise of Lucas Feltz, smiled. "Oh, but she did. Now, I will give you a head start before I kill you. Run."

And Lucas Feltz, without his glasses, didn't even see that the road had suddenly ended right under him, and he fell approximately eighty feet to his death.

* * *

"Reno, there's something I need to tell you," stated Rude solemnly to his friend, who looked up suddenly from a glass of scotch.

The new café manager (the third that had been hired since the original's death) looked at the two of them, absently wiping out a glass.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else?" asked Rude.

"Sure," said Reno, trying to stay calm, despite the feeling of dread he'd been having all day. The redhead followed Rude into the bald man's apartment, where he'd been staying since Rufus had returned.

"You should sit down, Reno."

"She's dead, isn't she?"

"What?"

"Nora."

Rude took his sunglasses off and sat on the couch. "How did you know?"

"Had a feeling," said Reno, plopping down next to his friend. The redhead stared off into space.

"Are you okay?"

"No." Reno looked up at his best friend. "How'd you find out?"

"The company got a murder report. Someone found the body, in an alley right in the middle of the plate. She'd been stabbed through the womb."

"The womb?"

"Yes, Reno. Autopsy showed that she was pregnant."

The younger Turk couldn't find words to reply.

"One of the workers in the research and development library said he saw her leave with one of the other librarians right before she died. The guy's name was Lucas Feltz. We found his body, too, soon after. By the looks of it, he committed suicide, straight off of that road that goes to nowhere on the outer reaches of the city."

Reno didn't seem to want to hear anymore, and he stood and walked out the door.

* * *

"They look almost exactly alike. He looks…_looked_ like him, and like her. All of them…gods, they could all be related," Reno murmured to himself as he stared at the file for Lucas Feltz. "I knew this guy. I can't believe it. He was in my battalion, under Pulitz."

"How ironic." Reno laughed bitterly.

The door to the tiny office that Reno had been given a couple years before opened, and footsteps told the redhead that someone had entered.

"Hello, Reno," said a smooth tenor voice.

"Hello, Feltz," said Reno.

"So, you followed my trail of bread crumbs, I see?"

"It was too easy. You should have made it harder to track. You look like the guy." Every word Reno said seemed pained. Forced.

"I know. Isn't _that _just convenient?"

"He was a bit more homely, though. How'd you pull it off, fooling her? You're still a bit recognizable…a bit…unique?"

"I just didn't talk much. Didn't look straight at her. She was so worried anyway that I knew she wouldn't notice."

"Did you do it because she was pregnant?"

"How did you find that out?"

"Rude told me. You fucking murderer, there was no reason for this!"

"She was running away, Reno. Just like I did."

"Why?"

"She didn't want to ruin your job, according to the librarian, so she was going to run away, to the slums, where you would be less likely to find her, and she could raise her child without interfering with your life. Now, do you see something wrong with this?"

"That's Nora for you, trying to save me from pain," the Turk murmured sadly.

"But, moving into the slums, Reno? What kind of life is that for a child?"

"Don't tell me you were trying to save the kid, Rufus. What? You'd just kill it instead?"

"Better than another child born in poverty."

"Bullshit, Rufus."

"But that's not all, and this is the tricky thing about this whole situation. Are you sure it was yours?" Rufus smiled.

"Don't even _think_ that she could have been cheating on me, Rufus. Nora wouldn't have done that."

"Technically, she wasn't."

"What?"

"I want you to look up the file for Leanora Richmond." Rufus smiled, and Reno could see something there that was more detestation than triumph. He found this fact odd.

Reno tried to access the file, but the search came up with nothing. "That's weird, yeah, but I don't see what it has to do with anything."

"Now, try Leanora Shinra."

The redhead did a double-take. "_What_?"

"Just do it, Reno."

Tentatively, Reno typed in the name, expecting--no, hoping--not to come up with anything. Instead, one profile appeared, with a picture of his dead girlfriend staring at him from the screen. He clicked the profile, and it read, "Leanora Shinra. Marital Status: Widowed"

It seemed that Reno's girlfriend had been his ex boyfriend's stepmother.

"You see, Reno. She wasn't cheating on you, she was having an _affair _with you."

"But, that doesn't make sense, Rufus!" Reno screamed in disbelief. "She was just a girl from the museum. She couldn't have been his wife. Plus, you gave her money, Rufus. She didn't have money like that. Why would she have gone to the slums with money like that?"

"Because she made all of the donations to the Midgar Museum of Fine Arts herself. My father wasn't interested in art, Reno. And that's why she married him, I guess. If she supported the museum, she could help the arts, and maybe become a professional artist herself. She was pretty good, you know, judging by the paintings of hers I saw."

"_Shut up_." Reno had to keep himself from yelling. "No, it can't be…"

"Especially this one that I found in Father's old room. It was a strange one. An unfinished piece, of some very bizarre-looking flowers."

"Please, Rufus, stop."

"And, Reno, if you say a word of this to your comrades in the Turks or to anybody else, I will make it quite obvious that your record is no cleaner than mine."

"Stop it, Rufus. I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"Every couple of years or so, it is customary for me to go through the cold cases in the registry, and I found a very interesting name there."

"No, Rufus…"

"Zelig Morrison, the top suspect in a nine-year old unsolved rape case…"

"Oh, gods…"

"Possible second suspect, but no files found matching the DNA sample present. Second suspect assumed to be nonexistent, due to a tarnished sample."

"Rufus…"

"When examined more closely, the second DNA matched very closely with a later sample gathered in a Junon assassination attempt on me. One Gerome Pulitz, your very own ex-commander."

"Why…?"

"What a _coincidence_, Mr. Morrison."

"_Why are you doing this to me_?"

"Or should I say, _Kiribani_?"

Reno dropped to the ground at Rufus' feet.

* * *

**Miya's Note: Yay! Emotional overload! What fun.**

**I hope you all enjoyed.**


	25. World Revival

**Business As Usual**

**Chapter #25: World Revival**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: (Sighs) Well, here's Chapter 25! I really like this one, but I am a little disheartened by the fact that I figured some stuff out that facilitates that I must write a sequel to this. I've had the idea floating around in my head for a while, and I finally figured out the last piece of the puzzle that pretty much makes it a necessity for me to go on after BAU. **

**I'm happy about this, and a bit afraid. It's hopefully not gonna be as long as the first. This one's almost 230 pages already, in the tiny formatting I use on my computer, and in book format, the first "Book" of the story (Everything before Rufus leaves) is exactly 300 pages. **

**I dunno if I could take another one of those. **

**But I do have some really cool ideas that can actually, though it may seem impossible, connect this to Advent Children, all the while explaining the rest of the way Gaia works, how Rufus and Tseng are alive, what exactly Geostigma is, why Rufus would look for Jenova in the first place, and…all that stuff. Plus, it'll bring in a few of the big FF7 characters that are almost lost in the background of BAU, like Sephiroth and Aeris. Basically, I wanna do what AC didn't do…fill in the plot holes!**

**Phew.**

**I'm crazy.**

**

* * *

**

I, truthfully, never thought I'd be there again, right in front of Rufus Fucking Shinra--on the floor no less--_feeling_ him staring down on me like I was some worthless lowlife.

Ah, the sweet sensation of familiarity.

For a little bit there, while he had me vulnerable again, just like he used to get me in the old days, I thought I was actually over him. I thought I hated him more than I'd ever hated him before. I thought I could have just killed him right there, with no worry or care about what that would lead me to. "Kill him," I told myself. "Do it, Reno. Get up and rid the world of this scumbag. Rid yourself of him. Rid yourself of the plague."

Then, I tried to move.

And I couldn't.

And I realized he'd won again.

Yep, he still had me. Damned beautiful scumbag and his ways. And then, he spoke, and it sent those same shivers down my spine that always felt like fear.

"Stand up," he said.

I wouldn't do it. No. I wouldn't follow his orders. I wouldn't even look at him.

"Stand up, Reno."

No, Rufus, I won't. I won't until you leave.

I heard the sound of one of the switchblades he liked to carry around with him, and I felt it pointing down at me.

"Stand," he said simply.

I looked up at him against all of my better judgment--no not at him, at the knife--and I found his switchblade pointing, not point but handle, at my nose.

"Take the knife, and stand."

And I pulled the blade from his fingers. I pulled that blade that said to me, "Kill him, Reno. Look, even he wants you to do it," from his grip so fast I got to watch blood splatter the end of the sleeve on one of his new coats.

And I stood, ready to strike.

* * *

Rufus Shinra smiled a predatory smile. Reno found this ironic, as the prey should usually look more afraid than the hunter, although the situation at that moment was very much the opposite.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the Turk.

"Doing what, Reno?"

"Don't play with me. This. The knife, and that smarmy look on your face."

"I'm keeping my promise."

"Promise?"

"You're healed now, aren't you?" Rufus began to unbutton his jacket.

"What are you raving on about?"

"Such a short memory." The blonde pulled the jacket, as well as an under-layer that gave him a bit of a trench-coat look, past his arms and threw the garments on the floor behind him. He started on his shirt, pulling it over his head.

The scars on his chest reminded Reno of just what promise the President meant.

"You want me to cut you. You want me to make you bleed."

"If I remember correctly, you wanted to do that on your own."

The redhead looked at the knife in his hand. He heard the sound of Rufus' toe tapping on the tile.

And he pounced.

Reno slashed a long, thin gash across the blonde's chest. "That's for pushing on my broken ribs!" he yelled, staring straight into the other man's ice-eyes. Rufus simply continued to smile.

The redhead shoved his prey against a wall and buried the blade in his shoulder. "That's for leaving for eight years!"

Rufus began to laugh.

The knife began to drag over the President's stomach, cutting a deep, long, river of blood down his form, straight down the centerline of his body. "And that's for killing Nora and the baby," Reno hissed darkly.

The laughter grew harsher and more intense.

Reno watched the red flow down, to stain the top hem of Rufus' pants. The knife hovered over that same spot.

"A little feisty, are we?" came Rufus' dark sneer.

"If you think I won't do it…."

"I don't think you will."

Neither of them moved.

"You're awfully calm, Rufus."

"And is there a reason I shouldn't be?"

"I have the knife, and I could do just about anything to you right now."

"And since when has that been any different?"

It almost seemed like a flash of movement, and Reno had Rufus pinned face-first to that same wall, and the knife was held in front of the blonde's throat. "I'll do it. I'll kill you, if you make one wrong move."

"So dominating. I forgot how much you like the control."

"This isn't a game."

"Of course it is, and isn't it a fun one? You have me right where you want me, and I have you just where you need to be to make me…"

"Don't finish that."

"To make me _scream_."

Reno pulled the knife up against the scars on Rufus' throat.

"To make me shiver under you."

"Don't make me…"

"To make me _yours_."

Reno pulled the knife out from the small space in front of the blonde. "Mine? You want to be my little plaything, Rufus? _Fine_."

And Reno cut his initials into Rufus Shinra's back, dropped the knife, and turned away.

The redhead heard a couple of steps behind him, and he felt hands grip his shoulders. Then, he was facing the blonde, so close their noses almost touched. He could feel Rufus' hot breath puffing over his lips.

Even more, he could feel Rufus' gaze, which, despite the icy color of the eyes that bore it, was digging itself into him even more hotly.

"I hate you," said Reno, though his voice was shaking.

"No you don't, Reno. Not really, or you would have killed me."

"Don't tell me what I feel."

"I'm not. I'm telling you what you don't."

And there it was, that mischievous smirk that always told Reno that something was coming.

But, to the redhead's surprise, it was him, and not Rufus, who found himself closing the gap between them. But as quickly as the kiss had started, it was over, because Reno had backed himself away from the lips that had drawn him in.

He stared at Rufus, blood flowing down the blonde's body and his once-white pants. The President gazed back lazily, and made no move toward or away from the other man.

"You need to heal yourself. Do you have any potions?"

"No, but I have materia. It's so easy to forget that we live in a world of magic, isn't it?"

"Whatever, Rufus. Just heal yourself. I'm sure you have a lot to do, being President now and all." Reno began to walk toward the door.

"Wait, Reno," heard the redhead from a few feet behind him.

"What is it now?" said the Turk without turning around.

"I want you to do it," came the blonde's light, almost eerie whisper from right behind Reno's ear.

"I didn't even hear you move…"

Rufus simply acknowledged the fact with a slight hum. Reno let the fingers on his left hand be pried open by a set of unusually sharp nails. A cold orb was slipped into the redhead's grasp.

Reno clutched down on the materia, trying to feel the power that lay inside of it. "Restore materia, I take it? Mastered too, I assume?"

"You assume correctly."

Reno could feel the toothy smile that formed inches behind his neck.

"I'm not too good with magic."

"I'll help you. Just turn around." To emphasize that this was more of an order than a request, Rufus turned Reno himself, using those same nails as a guide on the redhead's shoulders. "Now, Reno, hold the materia tightly in your left hand, and hold your right over the injuries."

"I've never heard of anyone casting like this. They usually just concentrate and say a spell name, and the spell just kind of works."

"Like magic?"

"Funny," grumbled the Turk sarcastically.

"I want you to cast like this. It's much more…"

"Weird?"

"_Intimate_."

Reno raised an eyebrow toward the blonde. "I don't want to be intimate. Especially not with you."

"Well, that's too bad. You don't always get what you desire most."

"Unless you're you."

"Hmmm, you think that's true?"

"Right now it is."

"I want you to cooperate with me, and I wish that you would do it freely."

Reno simply let out a short grunt of annoyance.

"Hold your hand over the top of this injury here." Rufus guided Reno's hand to show. "Now, concentrate. Imagine the wound closing itself up, leaving only a little scar to show that it was ever there at all. Then move down, across the cuts and the stab wound, until you reach the end. Right. _Here_."

Reno looked up at Rufus' expression, which had a glint of lust and domineering malice that he didn't like in the least. Then, he traced his gaze down the path Rufus had formed with their hands.

And he noticed suddenly that his fingers were resting on top of the button on the President's still blood-stained dress pants.

"All healed," said Rufus with a sneer.

"I…I still need to get your back. Don't wanna have a big…"

Rufus grabbed his hand before he could pull away. "Leave it. I'll let that one heal on its own. It'll scar better that way."

Reno's fingers brushed over the fine fabric under them.

"Don't worry, Pet. I'm not going to _rape_ you or anything. You are far better at that kind of thing."

"Don't even talk about that, Rufus, you sick fuck."

"I'll just taunt you and tempt you until you can't hold back any longer."

"I'm not gonna fall into another one of your traps…"

"I can wait for you to break." Rufus brushed a finger under Reno's jaw line.

The redhead shivered slightly.

"To snap." He brushed his lips over one ear.

Fingers curled over now-crimson cloth.

"To wither and melt, until the moment you're too weak to get away." Whispers that were sensed far more than heard.

Reno's knees began to try to give out under him.

"And then, I'll have you."

The redhead collapsed onto his once-lover's scar-mapped chest; into the embrace that had forsaken him for eight years.

Into a trap filled with the lust-marked fumes of vodka-and-steel scented poison gas.

Rufus took the materia from the other's hand and bit down slightly on the top of Reno's ear, just enough to pinch and cause almost a whimper to escape the captive's throat. "There, Rufus. You got me. Are you happy now?" game a pained voice that seemed to creak from the bony form in the taller man's arms.

Reno thought he almost felt Rufus began to purr.

"There, Rufus, _she's _out of the way, and you can have me back with no pesky obstacles."

"Except for you, of course."

"I'm not fighting you anymore."

"But you're not really cooperating, either. You're just giving up."

"Why the hell should I cooperate?"

"Because, if you don't, then I have to take absolute control, and I don't think you'll like that."

They stood for a little, before Reno finally pushed the blonde away. Rufus sprang into action, circling the redhead like a wolf to a rabbit.

And Reno began to circle back, transforming himself from prey to rival hound.

"Games again?" hissed Reno.

"Are you ready to play?" growled Rufus back.

Instead of answering, Reno lunged forward and grabbed Rufus by one shoulder and jerked forward. The blonde retaliated by grabbing hold of the ponytail of red coming from the back of Reno's neck.

Reno's grip tightened, and Rufus pulled his head farther and farther back.

The Turk eventually lost balance and fell backwards, only to be caught by his foe. Rufus looked down at him, kissed him roughly, and grabbed his hand, spinning him out of the grip like in a dance.

To Reno's surprise, the President began to hum a familiar tune.

"That's the song you…"

"The one I sang for you so long ago. Yes." Rufus continued to hum.

"Crazy fuck."

"Dance, Pet." Rufus pulled Reno in close, and shifted to a slow waltz. The redhead seemed to be trying to figure out how to move his feet.

"I don't dance. I just fight." The Turk broke the grip and pulled a new version of the electro-mag rod Rufus had given him from his coat, retracting it and holding it toward the blonde menacingly.

Rufus swept across the room and picked the switchblade up from the floor. He stood proudly and held the knife ready before him.

Reno pounced forward, jabbing the mag-rod toward the other man, who parried by knocking his hand sideways with the blunt of the knife, almost as if it were a warning.

Reno lunged and Rufus parried again, the latter's only movement coming from the arm that held the blade.

Reno lunged again, and the knife was through his hand.

The mag-rod fell to the floor.

Blade out, and Rufus simply whispered "Cure" and stepped back. The thin wound through Reno's hand closed up.

The blonde picked the electro-mag rod from the floor, closed it, and did the same to the switchblade. He dropped both weapons to the ground. "I guess I do have to take control, then."

"Go ahead and try."

"You've become more daring."

"No, I just don't care what happens so much if I lose anymore."

"Shall we raise the stakes, then?"

"How's that?"

"A duel. Hand-to-hand. If you win, you walk out that door alone. If I win, I get to have a little fun with you."

"You'll win, and you know it. You always win."

"Exactly, so if you choose to duel with me, you'll be cooperating."

Reno thought for a moment, and then smiled slightly. "A duel, then?"

"Ah, so he's finally returned. Hello, Reno."

Reno attempted to attack, but Rufus grabbed his hand. "I win," is all he said as he twisted the Turk around and dipped him yet again. "And thus, we dance."

"This is what you meant by having fun with me? I didn't even fight back, you know. You can't really say you won."

"I have you here still, don't I? So now, we tango. A sultry dance from exotic lands." Rufus snapped twice in front of Reno's nose to simulate a beat.

"I told you, I don't dance." Reno stood from the dip and pushed the blonde back. Rufus knocked against the messy desk Reno had assumed as his own.

The Turk stepped forward and pushed Rufus down on the metal surface, where the bloody, reversed mark of "R. K." stained the papers on top of it.

The redhead pushed his lips to the other man's in a predatory, devouring kiss. He slid his hands down the blonde's chest.

The door opened behind them.

"Reno, I've been getting complaints about excessive noise in here," said Rude as he walked into the office.

The sound of a gun's safety disengaging broke the stunned silence that followed.

"Go back the way you came, Rude." hissed Rufus Shinra, holding the pistol he'd pulled from a holster on Reno's hip with it's barrel toward the intruder.

Rude stood in a shocked stupor as Rufus pushed Reno to a standing position, one arm wrapped around the thin man's waist, the other still pointing the pistol. The three of them moved slowly and in sync toward the door. Rude backed out first, and Rufus cocked the gun.

"Go. Tell Tseng what you saw, too. That will make things interesting."

Rude backed up a few steps more, and then turned and walked quickly away from the two entangled men.

"I say we go somewhere more private, and a bit more comfortable," said Rufus, unwrapping himself from around Reno and handing the Turk back his firearm. He walked into the office and picked up his clothing, slipping his shirt over his head and holding the coat over his arm. "And, Reno, remind me to have a cleaner come in here and take care of the stains, although they should come out easily enough from the steel walls.

"Alright. To your place?"

Rufus' glare shot daggers into the other man. "That reminds me: I noticed that you had packed up your things and moved out."

"You were pissed. Didn't wanna intrude."

"What about the girl? Did she ever ask you about your living quarters?"

"Didn't have a chance. We always went back to her place on the plate. I didn't want her to get suspicious, and Rude's apartment wasn't exactly private."

Rufus bit his lip, thinking about Reno with a woman. "Are you upset?"

"About Nora? Of course I'm fucking upset about that, Rufus!" Reno turned his back to the other man, shutting the door again, so that he could vent without attracting too much more attention. "And to think, you almost had me, and then you have to go and ask the smart question, 'Are you upset?' No shit, Sherlock. You killed my girlfriend and my kid…"

"It wasn't your kid, Reno."

"What?"

"That child was my brother, although I didn't know it for sure until after they did the autopsy."

Reno frowned deeply, thinking about Nora with Rufus' late father.

"Give me another chance, Reno. I've been waiting for the time when we could start again from the beginning, without my father here, looming over us. Just me and you, Reno."

"You act like we're some fairy tale. You act like we can just hold each other in the cold nights and everything will be okay. You just want the bad things to be erased, like they never happened. That's not how it works. I'm glad Rude came in when he did, because I was about to do something stupid. I was about to let you erase it all, when that would have just made things worse."

"I'm not trying to erase it, Reno. Rufus set his hand on the redhead's shoulder. "But, I am trying to move on. You can't erase the past. You can't change the fact that she's dead, and I can't change what I did; all the things I've done, and you have done. But I can't dwell on it, either. Nobody can dwell on the past and stay sane. I've been trying to learn how to let go for years now, while I was in Junon."

"And all you've done is made it so you don't have to have a conscience."

"I told you why I did it. If that's not good enough for you, then that is fine. I really didn't expect it to be. But I need you. If Father hadn't died when he did, I would have been driven to go back to my old ways. The cuts would have gone deeper, and I would have lain, bleeding, on the floor of my office in Junon, and I would have died there."

"And it would have saved an innocent woman's life, and the Shinra legacy would have gone on in a new son, who I would have raised as my own."

Rufus laughed at that. "And you and your Leanora would have lived on, happily ever after, am I right? Who's talking in fairy tales now? What about when you found out about her? Would you have been so kind to her if she were still alive?"

Rufus Shinra swept past and through the door.

Reno Kiribani watched him go, and then picked up his weapon and the switchblade and walked out, too, but in the other direction.

* * *

"Rude, stop!" yelled Reno as he ran after his comrade.

"What now?" asked Rude, not turning around to face the redhead.

"Don't tell Tseng about what you saw in there, okay? Nothing happened."

Rude stopped in his tracks. "Nothing? That's a joke, Reno. I saw you, all over that bastard, the both of you bent over your desk. And he was shirtless, no less. I know exactly what was going on in there. Nora's conveniently dead now, so you thought you'd run back to _him_. Lemme ask you something. Did you know that Feltz guy?"

"Are you accusing me of…"

"Yeah, Reno. Timing seems a bit perfect, huh? Have the librarian kill her, so she's out of the way for you and the Prodigal Son. He was in your brigade, I seem to recall, back when you were in SOLDIER."

"I can't believe you're actually saying I had my girlfriend killed! I loved Nora, Rude!"

"Didn't take you long to get over that broken heart."

"I just basically told Rufus to fuck off, if you really wanna know. But, no, you're just making assumptions, as usual."

Rude finally turned around. "Oh, so you told the rich brat to screw himself, did you? And he really took that from you? I doubt it. If that had really happened, he would have shot you on the spot."

"You don't know that, Rude. You don't even know Rufus. He…" Reno stopped and thought back. "He just said, 'Would you have been so kind to her if she were still alive?' and left."

Rude looked at his partner, puzzled.

"Would I?" asked Reno, and then walked back in the direction from which he came.

Rude just watched him go.

* * *

There was a knock at Rufus' apartment door. The blonde smiled and answered, finding Reno, looking just as expected, confused and a little afraid, standing just outside.

"You're back," said Rufus, with no surprise at all.

"Yeah, I'm back."

"You've been thinking, I take it?"

"Yeah. Rufus, what was Nora?"

"I don't know, Reno. A martyr, maybe?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Come on in. Make yourself at home again."

Reno laughed slightly. "Home. You know, I tried to go back to my old apartment, but someone new was living there. I haven't met him yet. Rude said he's a new Turk Tseng hired when I was out of commission. I hope he doesn't ever find out what all happened in there, and that, if he does, he doesn't believe in ghosts."

Rufus' eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm a bit of a lady-killer, aren't I? In the literal sense, I mean."

Reno nodded. "A bit, yeah."

"It's not something I'm proud of, believe me. I have a lot of stains on my hands that are never going to come off, and they just seem to keep multiplying."

"Then stop making them."

"Can I have you back? Will you forgive me?"

"Forgive you? No, I don't think I ever will." Reno walked farther into the apartment and sat down on the bed. "But I guess I can try to move on."

Rufus sat down next to him. "I finally healed your little mark and changed shirts. It left a nice scar, though."

"I guess you're mine, whether I want you or not, huh?"

Rufus smiled slightly, sadly, and ran a hand over the sheets. Reno broke him from his reverie by placing a hand on his cheek and pulling their faces close.

Lips met, and Rufus cupped Reno's jaws with his thin fingers. Tongues intertwined in a slow, sensual dance, although Reno didn't object to this one. They fell to the bed, Rufus cradling Reno's head with his arm, the blonde hovering above the other man. In unison, they let out a hum that harmonized like a lover's song.

Rufus ran a hand down the redhead's body. Agonizingly slowly, he undid the few buttons left done on Reno's untidy uniform, and he moved shirt and jacket out of the way. Thin fingers roamed Reno's chest and stomach, light and almost tickling as they went.

The fingers slipped under the hem of the Turks pants and boxers.

Reno pushed Rufus away for a moment, and discarded his jacket and shirt while the new President undid his slacks.

And Reno Kiribani lay naked, exposed, and vulnerable, his legs hanging haphazardly off of the edge of his and Rufus Shinra's bed.

"You're beautiful," whispered Rufus over the skin on Reno's chest, in between the kisses he was trailing down his body.

Reno gasped as those kisses hovered at the bottom of his stomach. "I want to see you, too."

Rufus stopped and undressed, standing nude and still for a moment so that Reno could examine him. The redhead stood, and then he knelt in front of the blonde. Rufus stopped him. "No, sit back down on the bed."

Reno did, and Rufus knelt instead, his hands on Reno's knees. The Turk ran his hands through copper-golden hair, but found himself clenching instead as he felt Rufus' tongue running down the inside of his thigh.

Hands clasped only slightly on Reno's hips, the blonde leaned in towards the body before him, head bowed down as in worship, and took the other man slowly into his mouth, his tongue running over every bit it could reach, exploring.

"My God," gasped Reno, and his hands clenched even more tightly.

Rufus' fingers roamed in rhythm with his tongue, up his worshipped and his worshipper's sides and down again, then over the sides of his legs.

Rufus took in the slightly perfumed martyr's scent that lingered just in front of his nose.

Reno watched Rufus move, and tried not to move himself, as much as his body wanted to convulse into that grip of hands and mouth that held him. He let himself fall back a bit, his hands clenching silken sheets instead of silken hair. His breath hitched and he couldn't help but to thrust upward, to which Rufus responded by pushing his hips back down onto the bed when it caused him to gag slightly.

The blonde's nails scraped Reno's thighs carefully as Rufus pushed down on him to keep him from moving. The Turk bit his lip, and he couldn't help letting his head fall back, his eyes watering as he stared at the ceiling.

"Rufus, my God…"

Reno felt teeth scrape ever so slightly over him. It almost hurt, but…

"…it feels…I can't describe…don't…"

He felt Rufus' tongue run over him, then lips…

"…don't stop…"

Soft lips…so soft they could almost be a dream…

"Please, Rufus…"

Soft lips tugged down. No, that couldn't be a dream. No dream could feel like that…

"I can't…"

Rufus almost choked on the spattering of liquid heat that hit the back of his throat.

Reno fell back on the bed with a sigh.

"Was I as good as her, Reno?"

The redhead sat up quickly, his face flushed and his breathing still unsteady. "Is that what this was all about? You felt like you had to prove yourself to me or something?"

"No, I did this for myself, and for you. I just want to know."

"You were…different. Completely opposite of the way she was. She wasn't as careful. She let me finish things when I wanted to. You prolonged it. It was torture."

"Not good, then?"

"Better than good. I almost wanted to tell you to stop so I could just fuck you and get it over with, though." He fell back again. "Hold on, let me catch my breath. I can't let you get away with that."

"Oh, and what are you going to do to me?" asked the blonde, climbing up on the bed and straddling the almost lifeless form that laid there.

"I'm gonna torture you back." Reno pulled Rufus' head down so he could reach. This kiss was short, and more haphazard than the last. The Turk's head lolled to the side, and Reno's chest rose and fell in time with his quick, heavy breathing.

"I don't think you're up for any torturing."

"Just…give me a minute."

"Here, have a rest. Let's just talk." Rufus laid down sideways on the bed next to Reno's side.

"I don't know why I still ran back to you…"

"But you did, and that's what matters." Fingers played idly over a still-heaving chest.

"It doesn't make sense, though. I'm supposed to hate you."

"Technically, I guess I'm supposed to feel betrayed that you found a replacement for me while I was away, and I did, but only for a little while. Over everything I've told you, I know that you think that's why I killed her, but I can assure you that it's not. Even I could not kill over petty jealousy."

Reno looked at the ceiling, his eyes unfocused. "Rufus…"

"Yes?"

"Was what Nora did a crime? You know, running away and going into hiding, with part of the Shinra legacy in her womb?"

"Yes, but so was what I did, killing the child. But that was fear. If that child had lived, he would have outlived me, and, when I died, Shinra would live on."

"But you didn't know if it was his or mine."

"And if it was yours, you would have been the one committing treason."

"What did you do…while you were in Junon?"

Rufus let out a single almost-silent laugh. "I spent days locked in my office, and nights…those started out alone, just me and my thoughts. Then, I started making company in the knife and my blood; with the things I could hear when I was close to death from bleeding. Then, I would heal myself, and go back into the office the next day. Over and over again it went, for eight years, with very little sleep and even less human contact."

"I guess that makes you better than me."

"What do you mean?"

"I would think about you, and then I would go out on the streets to make it stop. I'd go out into the little back alleys and dark corners with a bit of gil, and I'd pay someone to make the thoughts go away. Then, Rude really started bugging me to find myself a steady girl, so I did, and I went straight for the one who reminded me the most of you."

"I feel like I should be flattered."

"I guess. You know, you were always the one I was looking for on those streets, drunk off my ass when I didn't have a mission coming, most of the time with Rude half an alley over probably thinkin' I had moved on while we both got sucked dry by lips in too-bright red lipstick.

"I don't wear lipstick."

"That's a relief. Neither do I, unless I'm really drunk. That's a long story."

"I don't think I wanna know."

"It doesn't matter. Like I said, I was really drunk." Reno sat up slightly, propping himself up on his elbows. "Lay back."

"Feeling better?"

"Much."

Rufus stretched out on the mattress, and Reno watched, entranced, as the dim light of the bedroom highlighted the almost bizarre curves and lines over the blonde's body. "I can say that I feel a little bad."

"About what, Reno?"

"That you can't know what this feels like, looking over you. You're untouched, except by me. You're my untainted idol of worship."

"I thought I told you not to worship me."

"Can't help it. That should be obvious every time I call you my God. Remember, I'm just the concubine."

"So you did read it."

"The whole damn book."

Rufus moaned as Reno ran one finger over his face, tracing the features there. The redhead stared down upon him, a subtle smile forming on his own mouth.

The exploring finger multiplied, and both of Reno's hands ran down the blonde's body, taking note of every mark and feature of that world. He mapped out a picture of Rufus in his mind, so that he could bring that vision back at any time and explore again.

"The most beautiful imperfection I've ever seen. That's you…no, that's us."

Rufus grasped on to one of Reno's hands. "Shh," is all he said, holding one of the redhead's fingers to his mouth. He sucked on the finger for a moment, and then let it go.

The Turk's mouth moved in where his hands left off, and he slipped his tongue in between the other man's lips. Rufus sucked lightly; a reminder of what he had done just a little bit before. Reno shivered on top of him, rubbing his body against his lover's. He could feel Rufus hard against the inside of his leg, and he could taste himself in the President's mouth.

Reno pulled away, and he traveled downward over the scarred lands; that reflection of the world the blonde's legacy had created. He searched with tongue and lips, painting in rivers of moisture to cleanse and heal the parched ground.

And he found Midgar. He found the barren city of light, untouched by outside forces and dead to anyone but he who called it home.

His home.

And there, he found it: The Fountain of Life. But no, that fountain would never create. Never, because it was _his_.

Rufus clenched the sheets, and his knees buckled; his heels dug into the mattress. Face flushed, he sweated new rivers into the map and his body contorted and shook, changing the landscape. Writhing under the drinker of eternity, the world itself began to live again.

Rufus propped himself up slightly to look down at the redhead. Reno had his eyes closed and was breathing almost as heavily as his captive. The blonde watched himself disappear into the Turk's lips. From the top, Reno looked as he did in a kiss, red hair sticking to his face with sweat and cheeks seemingly trying to match. And his eyes, those were lidded over lightly like he was peacefully asleep.

Exquisite.

Reno drew back, wiping his mouth, as Rufus fell again to the bed. "Just like I remembered," said the Turk.

Rufus moaned. "Hmm, me too."

"I like the way you taste," Reno whispered, climbing over the blonde and laying down on his shoulder.

"That's good to know."

The redhead relaxed fully into the figure under him, and he could feel that form sink farther into the bed, easing into the pressure pushing down on it. Reno turned his head upward, looking at the view of Rufus' face from beneath. He watched the lips begin to move.

"I thought I may have forgotten, in those eight years, what it was like to feel you. And, for a while, I think I did forget. But now…now I remember you fully. I remember why I was ever here, with you in my arms or at my side. I remember how you're the only one who can ever make me feel without that feeling being pain. Without you, ecstasy and torture are the same, but not here."

"Rufus, I wanna be a part of you."

"That's right, because I'm meant to have you inside. I'm meant to have you complete me. To make me right. To make me…whole."

"You mean sex."

"Not just that."

"But that's a part of it."

"Yes."

"Fair enough." Reno ran his fingertips over the shoulder he wasn't laying on. "Good news is, your little torture session seems to have worn off." The redhead nipped at the skin between his lover's shoulder and neck.

"I'd say it's about time we caught up for lost time, don't you?"

Reno simply nodded. The blonde spread his arms out and smiled.

"Complete me."

* * *

**Miya's Note: Heh, there's an alternate ending to one of the sections, and it goes like this:**

"**The redhead collapsed onto his once-lover's scar-mapped chest; into the embrace that had forsaken him for eight years. **

**Into a trap filled with the lust-marked fumes of vodka-and-steel scented poison gas.**

**And Reno realized, suddenly, that Rufus made him think in hyphens."**

**I can laugh at my own cheesiness. Really, I can.**

**Well, now that it's summer, my updates might come faster, or they might not. It all depends on if I have ready access to the internet. Yay. And bravo to anyone who noticed the slight (joking) reference to one of my other fics.**


	26. The Mechanics of Wrong and Right

**Business As Usual**

**Chapter #26: The Mechanics of Wrong and Right**

**Miya's Note: Whoo, sorry again, again, again, again, again, again….**

**For the delay. I didn't have easily accessible, fast internet until today. Bah!**

** I'm so pissed at right now! The first time, it didn't upload the full chapter, so I'm sorry to all of you who read the partial version. Plus, it STILL won't let me change my Qs to page breaks. BAH! **

**Okay, I think I'm better now.  
**

**QQQQQQQQ**

That time with Rufus was the first time I ever noticed the blood. Not the blood from a knife wound or a shot, but the blood from me. The kind of blood that comes from ripping into someone's body where you're not supposed to rip. Not like a woman. No, women didn't bleed like that, usually. The only woman who had ever bled like that was…was, well, the girl that I'd raped.

I looked at his face. Nothing. Nothing but this kind of odd rapture. Of course, Rufus always did like pain.

I asked him about it afterward. Had he always bled, and I'd just never noticed, or was this the first time? I hoped to the gods that this hadn't been happening all along.

My prayers went unanswered.

I was horrified. I was horrified, but he smiled at me.

He smiled at me, and told me not to change a thing.

QQQQQQQQ

"How bad are you hurt?"

"It's nothing, Reno. It's nothing more than a little tear in the flesh, and, like a paper cut, the smallest little injuries are the ones that usually bleed and hurt the most."

"Is there anything…?"

Rufus interrupted the redhead. "I told you: Change nothing. Pain is welcome. It's appreciated. It makes the act fulfill its purpose even more."

"Purpose?"

"Release and retribution. You should know that."

Reno furrowed his brow, and his lips scrunched up to match. The Turk huffed. "I swear, I should just get a whip and go dominatrix on you or something. You're one of those weird fucks who'd actually like it."

Rufus smirked at that, and let out a chuckle. "You're probably right."

"Probably? Looking at some of the shit you've had me do…"

"Yes, yes, of course, Reno. And I know what you're going to say next."

"And what's that?"

"That it's ironic that the most powerful man in the world is such a submissive."

"You've got that right."

Rufus leaned in toward his lover, and he pushed his ear against the other man's chest.

"What are you doing, listening to my heart or something?"

"I don't know. I guess."

"Weirdo."

"Lay down."

Reno did, and Rufus' head followed, resting on the redhead like a pillow. Rufus found it intriguing the way words resounded through the Turk's ribcage when he spoke, "It's kind of funny, that when I'm around you, it's like the whole world is off of its axis. It's like everything's just…wrong, you know? It's like things shouldn't be happening like they're happening, but at the same time, it feels like there's…something else here. Something more. Do you feel that way?"

"Sometimes, yes."

"Like there might be something _real_ happening…with us?" Reno laughed. "I still don't know why I always come back to you, and I think that--that not knowing--it's because I don't want to believe that there could be something more to it."

"You don't have to."

"And what about you?"

"I don't." Rufus wrapped an arm around the other man's stomach. "I just go along with my life; with the tears and the pain and the fucking and the fighting and how they all go together because none of it's ever done right. But, like I told you, I don't want anything to change. I spent my whole life trying to be right about everything. I spent my whole life learning that what was right was to grow up heartless, and by growing up heartless, grow up powerful. And I learned that what was right was to simply rule the company with no regrets, and then to find a woman, impregnate her, and raise the next member of the legacy to do the same. And I spent my whole life trying to find a way to be wrong, and I found it, through you."

"I like that."

"Hm?"

"That we can be each other's releases from being right. Everyone tells me it's wrong to be with you, so I go back to this. I rebel. You're my Mr. Wrong."

"The feeling is mutual. Oh, how I love contradiction, in all of its forms."

"Yeah, I've noticed. Which reminds me: You said that being with me was pretty much the only thing that didn't cause you pain, and then…"

Rufus stopped him with a sigh. "I guess I should have been more clear as to the types of pain I've been referring to. Physical pain is its own type altogether, and it doesn't quite go along with the others. There is no time in my life when I am not in some sort of physical pain. Think about it, Reno. How many times since we've met alone has my shoulder been destroyed? Do you think that, every time, it has healed all the way? What about my hands? The muscles in my chest and back? Each time I move, it's like knives through my skin. To avoid physical pain, I would have to get a new body, and, even if that were possible, I wouldn't want it. This body of mine is a testament to my innate human weakness, and to the corruption within me. I hate it, but it is all that keeps me from taking that last step into true insanity; to the point where I don't realize anymore that what I do is wrong, because there are no repercussions that are reflected directly onto me."

Reno scowled, waving his hand in little circles through the air in front of him. "Okay, that was a lengthy and depressing explanation, and it didn't even answer the question."

"The point I am trying to get to is that the type of pain that is absent when I am with you is a certain breed of emotional pain brought on by regret. Unlike every other experience in my life, this--what we just did--is one of the few things I wouldn't ever wish to take back. Being here, like this with you, is one of the only good memories I have."

Reno kind of smiled. It was a confused expression, between a semblance of happiness and a sort of true repulsion. "It's a bit sickening, you know, that one of the few good experiences you have under your belt is sex with a whorish piece of slum dirt that doesn't know right from wrong. Of course, being that whorish piece of slum dirt, I have to say I'm kind of honored. You know, seeing as the memories I'm usually connected with are ones about me killing people's family members and screwing poor chicks who have nothing better to do than stand on corners and get fucked over for money. But it's sad, you know, that a guy like me's the good part in your life. I really do pity you sometimes."

"Then, I go and do something like kill your girlfriend and you go from pitying me to hating me," Rufus muttered, his face showing a bit of bland annoyance. "And, then, for some odd reason, you go back to pity again, and I wonder: Am I really _that_ wretched of a man that my only redeeming quality is the fact that someone can pity me at all?"

Reno suddenly felt the need to change subjects, or at least to lighten the atmosphere. Things were getting darker and darker by the moment, and he generally didn't like how they turned out when that darkness got out of hand. The redhead smirked, making sure Rufus was looking at him when he did it. "Well, you're a walking pile of sex, if that's any consolation, even in your testament to innate human weakness."

"And how much should that matter to me, coming from a so-called whorish piece of slum dirt?"

"Hey, even if I am a slut-puppy, and I won't deny that I am, I do have some taste in who I go laying in bed with, thank-you-very-much."

"Oh, yes?" Rufus leaned up to the redhead, boring into the other man's eyes with his own in a sort of challenge. "And what may this taste imply, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well, that taste usually implies the exact opposite flavor from yours. You're everything I usually don't find attractive, and that makes you special."

"Oh, and how is this?"

"You're a dude. That's most of it."

"Most?"

"You're a really effeminate dude, sometimes, but you're a guy nonetheless."

"So, what is it about me that makes me appealing to your oh-so promiscuous, yet oh-so-heterosexual eye?"

Reno thought for a moment, though he didn't break from the harsh glare. "I dunno. Maybe it's that you're one of the only people in the world who can make me stop sleeping around while you're there."

"Well, isn't that bizarre?" Rufus pushed his nose against the redhead's, and Reno backed up quickly, swatting at the other man. Rufus grinned, hovering inches in front of his lover and not responding in the least to the small swipes being aimed at his face. "You, who I'm sure is quite the piece of meat on the ladies' market, goes and sleeps with a man, and, suddenly, he's out of the picture for everyone else. There must be something especially curious about me to make you change so suddenly."

Reno huffed, pushing his nose back up against the blonde's. "Oh, there is. So curious, in fact, that I can't figure it out. You just make my mind go all wonky, and then I don't know what's what anymore, and I get confused."

"Oh, so confused that you can't tell up from down?"

"Nope."

"In from out?"

"You raunchy heifer."

"Right from wrong?"

"That one I know. Rufus equals Wrong."

"Fair enough. Nice, simple equation. That, and a couple of others may help us solve this little curiosity. Now, what does Reno equal? Reno plus Rufus?"

"Hmm…Well, Reno equals Crazy, Lust-sick Fool. Reno plus Rufus equals…well, I'm not sure. I guess the only thing I could say to that is that Reno plus Rufus equals This."

"And This equals…?"

"That's the question of the century."

Rufus backed off of the bed, standing and adopting a thinker's posture, his foot up on the mattress and his elbow on his knee. "Well, maybe we can solve for the variable 'This' and find out what this whole little mystery of ours entails."

"Okay, too much math."

"This is simple, Reno."

"This is stupid. You're trying to use some sort of weird math problem to figure out our relationship."

"Ah, relationship." Rufus held up a finger to keep Reno from speaking. "One of the properties of variable 'This' is that it is, in fact, a relationship of some sort."

"You're gonna make me play along with this, aren't you?"

Rufus didn't feel he needed to respond.

"I thought so."

"Now, what other properties does our little variable have, hm?"

Reno crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, for one, it is very, very gay."

"This little problem solving game, or our relationship?"

"Both."

"I beg to differ."

The Turk looked positively flabbergasted. "Rufus, we are two grown men. We are two grown men who are _sleeping together_, and trying to figure out why we're doing it with a word problem."

"Just because we're having sex, it doesn't make us gay."

"Okay, so I know _I'm _not a flaming homosexual, but..."

"Reno, why are we even having this discussion? I guess I shouldn't have assumed that you knew where I stand and have always stood on this issue."

"I guess not."

Rufus sat on the floor and rested his chin on the bedside. "Will you listen to me if I tell you?"

"Yeah, I'm listening."

"Why are you so irked all of a sudden?"

"I'm sick of people calling me gay."

"Fuck them, Reno."

"Not literally, I hope."

"No." The blonde glared. "Listen, where I stand is that I don't see much of a difference between men and women. Tell me, what's the difference, in your eyes?"

"Well, guys have dicks, and women have pussies. Duh. This is such an obnoxiously school-like discussion. Math problems and health-class logistics."

"Fine. Never mind." The President stood, walking away from the bed. He stood in front of his closet, back turned from the redhead, as he looked for some clothing. "Forget we even had this talk. You are being remarkably juvenile right now. Come back when you've calmed down. You should probably go and check in with the other Turks anyway, and I have things I need to be doing as well. I don't have time to argue."

"You're kicking me out? This is my apartment, too, buster!"

"You did fine on your own for the past couple of weeks. You will be alright while you are gathering your head. Now, get dressed and get out."

Reno stood, too, and he gathered up some clean clothing from his still-packed duffel bag. "Fuck off, Rufus," he growled, and left.

QQQQQQQQ

"Well, don't we just look pissed?" Rude asked dully as Reno threw his bag on the bald Turk's apartment threshold.

"Fuck off. You, fuck off. Him, fuck off. Tseng, fuck off. I'm going to sleep. On the couch. Now."

"_Okay_," Rude murmured, stepping out of his comrade's way. He moved the bag out of the entrance and shut the door. "I'm not going to ask. I'm just gonna let you sleep, and I'll wake you up in the morning. We have a meeting with Tseng tomorrow."

"Oh, and when the hell was I supposed to find out about this meeting?"

"You really weren't. You're still off-duty, to make sure that you've healed all the way."

Reno fumed. "So, why the fuck are you dragging me along with you?"

"Well, I figured that you could come and meet your new co-worker?" Rude suggested, almost meekly (or as close to it as a man like Rude could manage).

Reno kind-of-almost smiled. "Well, maybe fucking with the rookie will help me feel better."

QQQQQQQQ

"Well, I want _my_ secretary, not some incompetent floozy that my father picked out!" screamed Rufus to the very same incompetent floozy that he happened to be talking about at that precise moment.

In an almost satisfyingly confirming response to Rufus' outburst, the woman in front of him stared blankly at him and then abruptly started to cry, her overexposed cleavage doing its best to catch any rampant tears.

"Listen," said Rufus to the distraught ex-secretary in front of him, "I just received the notice of death from the doctor who treated the alcohol poisoning of the manager of the 61st floor café. Instead of all-out firing you, I will be kind this time and offer the position to you. You are fairly close to matching the specifications of the first manager, unlike the previous two, who didn't seem to be as pleasing to the customers. She, the first manager, much like you, was not particularly bright, but that didn't stop her from doing quite well at her job. Now, I'm sure you will like your new position. You can be quite as much of a slut as you want, and if you get depressed, you can drink until you are sick, although I hope you don't go as far as the last one did. Now, go along little floozy, and, if you would, call Janice Johanneson up to my office as your last assignment as Presidential secretary."

The woman continued to bawl, her eyes seeming to have more substance than they normally did, magnified as they were by the tears that filled them. Rufus' eyes, on the other hand, seemed to get smaller as he cringed at the sound of the girl's crying, and he breathed heavily through his nose in an attempt to calm himself down before he had an outburst.

One more wail, and Rufus' will was broken.

"I said **_GET OUT_**!" yelled the President, and that was enough to cause the fourth café manager, a tall, skinny woman from Kalm whose favorite hobby was flower arranging and whose name was Bette Connelly, to quite literally run from the blonde's office.

Bette ran as fast as she could, but Rufus' new office, unlike his old, was not separated from the rest of the building by doors but by stairs, and she tripped and broke her rather skinny neck on the way down.

Hearing the crack, Rufus added Bette Connelly to his growing mental list of women he had caused the deaths of (whether on purpose or by accident) and called Janice to his office.

His secretary's first order of business in her new, higher position would be to find a new floozy to hire as the fifth in the long line of cursed café managers.

QQQQQQQQ

"Reno, welcome back," said Tseng, a bit of unusual enthusiasm creeping into his normally stoic face.

"Yo, Dot-Man. When can I start working again? I'm sick of just sittin' around."

"Currently, we are working with the new member of the force in hopes that she can gain some experience on the field. Plus, I feel that you should continue to rest. I was careless when I picked you to take the Sector Seven job. I didn't check your records, and I was unaware that I had sent you to destroy your childhood home until after the mission."

Reno waved a hand dismissively through the air. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Boss. Don't sweat it. I'm more worried that I'm being replaced. And, by a woman? Did I hear you say 'she'? To think, I thought it was a guy who had my old apartment."

"Damn right he said 'she'!" came a slightly high-pitched voice from behind the redhead. "And don't you dare think that makes me any less capable than you. Just because I'm a woman…"

Reno turned to face the newest Turk, a blonde woman with large, heavily lined brown eyes. The doe-like look those eyes gave her set the more veteran Turk on edge and didn't help to ease his worry about his newest co-worker. "Yeah, yeah, babe," said Reno, cutting the woman off. "I've heard the spiel. Call me sexist all you want, but you just don't look like you've got the right stuff to be in the force."

Tseng stepped between them, sensing the woman's nearing hissy fit. "Reno, I assure you that Miss Pearce here is quite capable enough."

Reno grinned. "Pearce, eh? Is your first name as sexy as your last?"

Rude was next to step between the two. "Reno, you need to treat your new co-worker with respect."

The redhead pushed the two other men out of the way. "Hey, hey, don't get your panties in a bunch. I'm just fucking with the rookie. Gotta make sure she can handle pressure."

"I assure you, I don't need to be tested by the likes of _you_," hissed Miss Pearce.

"Ooh, she's got attitude. I like that in a woman."

"I'm your co-worker, you pig, not some ten-dollar hooker. Of course, those are probably the only girls you really pay attention to, aren't they?"

"Damn, woman. Nice comeback." The redhead held out his hand. "Name's Reno Kiribani. Yours?"

The woman didn't accept his handshake. "I'm Elena. Elena Pearce." Elena seemed as if she had to hold back spitting on Reno. "And don't touch me."

"Listen. I really am just messing with you. Last woman I was with, we were together for about two years. Yeah, I've had my share of one-night stands, but you're not my type. Plus, I'm taken."

Elena laughed. "Taken? You? I find your little story hard to believe. Plus, two years? And running, I guess? That's a long time for a guy like you, isn't it?"

"Correction, the two years was with my _last _girl. She's dead now, or didn't you hear from Tseng and Rude about the whole little soap opera that's my life? You don't even wanna hear the story about my current fling."

Tseng's eyes widened. "Reno, I think that is about enough. If you are speaking of the person I think that you are, it would be beneficial to you and your position in the Turks if you would not continue."

"Oh, yeah, I'm talking about the person you think. And, no, I'm not gonna say anything more about it. I just said she _didn't_ wanna hear the story. Why would I continue?"

"Wait, I do wanna know!" said Elena, finally breaking and pleading with the redhead, who grinned smugly.

"No, you don't." grunted Rude, stepping over to Reno and clamping a hand on his shoulder, causing the redhead to cringe with pain.

"Shit, I didn't tell you about that, did I? About the whole back together thing?" Reno groaned. "I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"That why you were so angry last night?" asked Rude.

"_Heeey_, you guys! What are you talking about?" pleaded Elena.

"We got in a bit of a fight…." gasped Reno between grunts of pain.

"Reno, I do have the authority to fire you, still." growled Tseng.

"You know it won't do any good. You tried that one already," Rude mumbled.

"I don't get it! Somebody tell me what you guys are going on about!" screamed Elena, trying to make someone notice her.

"But, hey, it actually was kinda like we were a real couple or something. No violence, nothing!" Reno said, prying Rude's fingers out of the dents in his shoulder.

"Maybe I'll just put you back in the hospital. We have a replacement, now." Tseng said in what could possibly be taken as a joke, but which nobody quite knew if it was meant to be one.

"He'll just heal and come back twice as annoying," possibly-joked Rude back.

"Guys…" Elena continued to plead.

"The sex was good, though." stated Reno rather casually.

The little discussion ended abruptly, with all three of Reno's co-workers staring at him, each in a different state of revulsion.

Reno shrugged. "What? I'm just being honest!"

"You are such a pig," was Elena's short reply.

"Tell me about it," said Rude.

Reno thought for a moment, and then grinned in what would have been deemed a most dauntingly maniacal fashion had it been Reno the one looking at it, but which came out looking far closer to a mix between the glossed-over look one gets after the aforementioned good sex and that odd grimace one can only achieve when something is caught in his teeth. Elena wasn't sure whether to be frightened or simply repulsed.

"Oh gods, Reno." grumbled Rude. "I'm afraid to know what you're thinking, especially with the way this conversation is going."

"Oh, it's nothing that'll really affect you. I was just thinking of how well Miss Pearce and I are gonna get to know each other, with the Turks being such a tight-knit group and all."

Elena blanched, her cheeks paling rather like she had just been hit in the face with flour.

"Oh, shit. I think I may have killed her," the redhead said, waving a hand in front of his new co-worker's horrified eyes.

"We are still not quite close enough of a group to be hearing about your…unorthodox relationships, however," hissed Tseng. Elena only moved her eyes and eyebrows to show that she was still slightly curious, although the rest of her remained frozen in her state of shock.

"Great family you all are," Reno growled. "This kinda shit you guys put me through is why we got into the argument in the first place." The redhead's voice began to grow more harsh and remarkably more loud. "Why can't you two just leave my private life alone? You all aren't in my situation, so you don't know what the fuck I'm going through. I beat myself up enough as it is about it, so I don't need help!"

"Reno, calm down," said Rude slowly.

"I'm not gonna fucking calm down until you two accept that me and You-Know-Who are together, and we're probably gonna stay together, even with the way the past eight years have been going, and I don't know why we're gonna do it, because we're always doing things like fighting or trying to kill each other or leaving for years at a time!"

"Wow, you're touchy," Elena interjected before Reno could continue.

"You're acting very juvenile," continued Tseng.

"Yeah, I got that one already," hissed the redhead.

"And you're kind of freaking me out," finished Rude.

Reno sighed. "Yeah, whatever. I don't have to deal with this shit. I'm gonna go and make myself apologize to…to…well, you know."

Rude thought for a moment. "That's why you're acting like such a dick, huh? Just because he's all pissed at you."

All three men stopped for a moment, looking around. Tseng coughed.

"She," said Reno, looking at Elena and pointing at Rude over his shoulder. "Listen to that, Rude trying to say I'm gay and shit. You don't believe that, right babe?" The redhead raised an eyebrow and made sure to take a good, hard look at Elena's crotch.

"Stop it, you perv!" screamed the female Turk, who suddenly decided that it was the right moment to deliver the kick to Reno's balls that she'd been holding out on since she had first met him. "I think I'd like you better if you _were_ dating a guy! Then you wouldn't be such a chauvinist."

"If you only knew," whispered Rude to the young blonde woman.

"Shut up, Rude." squeaked Reno.

"I'm just fucking with the veteran."

"Funny," hissed the redhead. He gasped toward Elena next. "I'm gonna go apologize now, but not to you, you bi……you _horrible woman_. You had better hope you didn't do any permanent damage, or you'll have hell to pay with my significant other."

Elena simply thought Reno looked funny, and not the least bit threatening, as he hobbled out the door.

"Alright," said Tseng, breaking the laughter that followed. "Now, for the reason we came here: your mission."

QQQQQQQQ

"Are you quite finished being immature now?" was the first thing Rufus asked as the sound of steps came up the stairs to his office.

"How could you tell it was me?" asked Reno, avoiding the question, as he noticed that Rufus, as he seemed to do with all of his visitors (wanted or unwanted), hadn't looked up from his files when the Turk had walked in.

Rufus kept his eyes on the papers before him as he answered. "The nervous, slow, hesitant beginning to your climb, followed by the quick, feigned attempt at a change to confidence in your step as you walked in, the small, almost inaudible sigh as you tried to compose yourself, the clicking of your mag-rod against the side of your leg while you let your left foot tap, tap, tap on the tiles, the scent of smoke and cheap scotch that precedes you when you've tried to use a crutch or two to keep you from breaking down…"

"Enough," Reno cut in.

"I also asked you that question for redundancy's sake, knowing that you wouldn't answer, and knowing even better without that reply what the unspoken answer to my question would be."

"Well, what is it then?"

"You don't know how to answer, because you didn't realize that you were being immature in the first place, but you came to apologize nonetheless, even though you're nervous and a little angry, because you don't think you even _need_ to apologize, as you don't see what you did wrong." Rufus finally looked up, folding his hands on his desk, and suddenly noticed an odd change to Reno's stance that he hadn't anticipated.

"See, you know me so well, and yet we _still_ manage to fight all the time. Doesn't make much sense, does it?"

"Ah, but yes it does. You see, even after all this time, you don't particularly know _me_. But, that fact is more my fault than yours, and that is why I am accepting your apology before you even have the chance to give it." Rufus tilted his head. "What doesn't make sense, on the other hand, is why you are standing like somebody very recently felt that he or she didn't want you to ever reproduce."

"It makes sense, because that's obviously exactly how my new co-worker feels. Could you do me a favor and kill her for me, and then give me some money for pain-killers? The woman's got a good kick to her."

Rufus leaned back and opened a drawer. He threw a bottle of pills toward the redhead. "I keep those for headaches. I need them, too, so don't take them all."

"How many before they knock me on my ass? I'm hoping these are really _good_ pain killers."

"If you would like to be knocked on your ass, take a whole one. A half will be sufficient for mere numbing of the pain. Two will most likely send you into shock," Rufus joked in an odd kind of offhanded sing-song voice.

"Two it is, then."

Rufus laughed. Reno grinned and popped the pills into his mouth.

"Come sit down," said the blonde. "I want to talk to you."

"Am I sitting because you want me to be comfortable while you chew me out, or because I'm about to go unconscious from your mystery pills?"

"You're not going to go unconscious, at least not for a while, and I have no intention of chewing you out."

Reno shrugged , walked around the desk, and sat in Rufus' lap. "Works for me."

"I meant in a chair."

"You're in a chair, and that means I am, too." The redhead grinned, widening his eyes in a pathetic attempt at a puppy-dog pleading look. "Plus, I don't know if I believe you about the pills, and I'm hoping you'll catch me if they knock me out."

Rufus hummed slightly. "I wanted you to sit in a different chair from me because I forced myself into spending last night without your presence. After eight years without you, one night isn't enough to keep me…" The hum became a deep, throaty rumble that Reno could feel. "Satiated is a good word for it. My office isn't exactly private, you know."

"I keep forgetting how feisty you are."

"Yes, but I am going to talk to you, whether my lust is urging me to do otherwise or not."

"And how strong your friggin' willpower is."

"I have problems, Reno."

"I knew that."

"Problems that I can't solve, no matter how hard I seem to try."

Reno leaned in to the other man, wrapping his arms around Rufus' neck. "That's what I'm here for, right?"

Rufus returned the embrace, holding the redhead around the waist, but looked away from him, toward and out of one windowed wall. "That's one of my problems. As much as I plead for it within, for someone, please, to help me, I can't bring myself to plead outside of that. If I have to beg for help, I am weak, and weakness is what makes me hated. Since I was little, it's been my own weakness that's destroyed me. My weakness, and the hatred it caused me from my father."

"He's dead, Rufus."

"I know. I ran away, Reno. I ran away like a coward. You know, I never committed suicide because of that voice in the back of my head telling me 'It's the easy way out; the weak way out.' As much as I always wanted to, I never could, because I was afraid that people would perceive me as weak when I died."

"That he would?"

"Yes. But, that fear of being weak haunted me, because there was something else there, too: Another part of me screaming that I was too afraid to do it. And it was the same with my father. I couldn't kill him, as much as I hated him, because it was too easy just to destroy him. I can't deal with my problem, so I'll just eliminate it. But I did something even worse, and I just ran away and waited for someone else to do it for me."

"Rufus, that's not like you."

"I told you: You don't know me. Nobody does. But, you know what's the funniest thing? When I ran away, I realized something. I loved my mother, and when she died, I lost the most important thing that I had ever had. And then, she was more than dead. She was just gone, like she'd never been there at all. I started to forget her completely. I started to lose that last little trace of connection I'd had with her."

Reno could feel Rufus shaking under him. "Are you cold?"

"No, Reno. Not cold. I'm scared."

"Go on. There's more to this, isn't there?"

"The more and more my mother started to fade from me, the more I began to realize that, all along, I'd been looking for another connection like the one I had with her. And I would look around, at the world, at the way things were supposed to be, and I would think to myself, I'm supposed to have that connection with my mother and my father. I couldn't kill him. I couldn't do it, because it would mean I was weak, and it would mean that I would never be able to salvage that connection that I was supposed to have--that I needed to have--and I left, hoping that he would come running after me. 'Rufus, come home. I've been wrong all this time.' And then, suddenly, eight years in the blink of an eye and he was dead. He never came, and what everything inside of me was telling me was my last chance to not be utterly alone in the world was gone. I couldn't hate him, and I couldn't love him, and there were times when I wished I could have done both."

"Everything inside you? Then why'd you come back? If nobody else could keep you from being alone, why'd you come back? What is it that you're still fighting for, if you've already lost everything?"

Rufus looked at Reno. The redhead's eyes were slightly wet. It looked almost as if he had been holding back tears. Rufus couldn't understand why, until Reno smiled. The blonde asked, to make sure. "You want to be it, don't you? My last attempt at hope?"

"Yeah. Right or wrong in the eyes of the world, I want it to be me."

Rufus sighed. "I'm sorry."

"That's a 'no' then?"

"No, it's a 'yes'. I'm sorry that it hasn't been you all along."

"That's the thing. I think it has. I just don't think you've realized it, until now."

Rufus managed a bit of a smile. "You're a conceited little bastard, aren't you?"

"Yeah, a bit. But that's alright, because we're all wrong, and I think that means we have a chance."

Reno was so close to Rufus that he could see the now-dried traces of tears crack and flake away in the time-deepened creases under the blonde's eyes as the President chanced a slight, barely-noticeable laugh that only someone with a connection to Rufus like Reno had could sense.

"You're right," said Rufus "It's time I start taking chances where I was afraid to take them before."

"That's the bravest I've seen you since I met you. I think we have one problem solved."

"Now, on to the thousand-and-one others?"

"One at a time. We don't want me exploding on you, do we?"

"And, maybe, every once in a while, we can take a break from my issues and deal with a couple of yours."

Reno looked offended. "Me? Issues? I don't have those. I'm perfect."

"Oh, of course, Reno. You're not moody and insecure in the least."

"Of course not. I scoff in the face of insecurity."

Rufus smirked, and looked at the time posted in the corner of his computer screen. Reno kept blabbing on about how "perfect" he was, laughing at his own sarcasm like a near-maniac, and Rufus nodded at the clock. 

"What are you up to, hm?" asked Reno, his voice beginning to slur together.

"It's about that time."

"What time?"

"Time for you to be knocked on your ass."

"Good idea," drawled Reno, who leaned on Rufus' shoulder and fell asleep with a contented sigh. 

"Two problems, solved," Rufus said with a laugh to himself.

The President stood, his lover in his arms, and walked down the stairs from his office and stopped in front of his secretary's desk. "Janice, if anyone calls for me, take a message. I will be back shortly. And, do not mention this to anyone."

"Not a word," said Janice calmly, a glint in her eyes showing that she knew more than she tended to let on.

Rufus walked out, and Janice Jeanne Johanneson smiled. 

QQQQQQQQ

**Miya: Wow, this one took a LONG time to post. I'm sorry I've had so many of these long spaces in between postings. I had hoped I'd get this one done quickly, it being summer and all, and, oddly enough, my lack of consistent internet access had very little to do with it, because the writing took forever, too. I am really happy with this one, though (It has some of my favorite quotes and conversations of yet.), so I hope you all are, too, to account for and perhaps redeem me a little for the long waits I keep putting you guys through. **

**I like Janice. I really do. She's in there so little, but I've gotten kind of attached to her, even with her crazily, obnoxiously alliterated name. **

**Yay!**


	27. Narcotica and Erotica

**Business As Usual**

**Chapter #27: Narcotica and Erotica**

**Miya's Note: Thank you all for over 22,000 hits!**

**Just as a little note to all of you, I am definitely going to finish this story, and write the sequel to it as well. I've been, on and off, coming up with ideas for _Parallel Threes _(The aforementioned sequel, if you don't know by now.), and the storyline is a real twist. I pity anybody who tries to start reading it when it comes out who hasn't read _this_ one first, since a lot of it is dependant on knowing what happened in BAU. **

**To give you some information, _Parallel Threes _switches the whole thing around a bit and makes Rufus tell the story, instead of Reno, and takes place from after the ending of BAU (which is at the same time as White Flag) all the way to a little bit after Advent Children. It incorporates much, much more of the Cetra Mythology shown in Chapter 22 of BAU, and especially explains why Rufus seems so changed from FF7 to AC. **

**Though this may disappoint some of you, Reno won't be in P3 nearly as much as he is in BAU. He is presented in the sequel as more of a tertiary character, at least up until the end, where he comes back into the main thread of the plot. His storyline will be presented in mostly sporadic bursts, while Rufus and a very unexpected secondary character (not a love interest, though, so don't worry about anyone interfering in Reno and Rufus' relationship) will take the forefront. If anybody can guess who the secondary protagonist is going to be, I'll answer one question (ANY question, so make it a good one!) you have about any part of the WF/BAU/P3 series of crazy stories, including spoilers. And, yes, I'll be nice and let you have as many guesses as you want.**

**Okay, enough ranting. Hope you all like this chapter.**

* * *

After my experience with Rufus' mystery pain killers--probably high-dosage narcotics of some sort, knowing Rufus--I woke up on a couch right outside Janice's reception area. I looked at the time. It had been a while since I'd fallen asleep, but the pain was most definitely gone. I was a little annoyed that I'd ended up on a couch instead of a bed, but I figured that Rufus probably had his reasons.

Standing proved to be the real problem.

The first thing I thought when I checked out the rest of my body to see how I was reacting to the pills was that it was a good thing that Rufus' job mostly involved paperwork. I was tired, in that happy sort of way that only high-dosage narcotics can make you tired, and the lower half of my body didn't seem to want to coordinate with the upper.

Maybe Rufus hadn't been kidding when he'd said half of a pill would be enough. That's what I get for assuming that a guy who rarely ever made jokes except when it either benefited him or was completely and utterly against the benefit of anyone else was, in fact, making a joke for the sheer sake of making a joke.

Oh, well.

I walked as best I could into the reception area to talk to Janice and see if she knew anything.

"That's classified, Reno," she told me with a smile. "I promised the almighty up there that I wouldn't tell a soul what happened." The secretary pointed up the stairs and winked at me.

"I'm drugged and curious, Janice. Give me a break," I drawled out.

The woman behind the desk gave me her trademark, almost-but-not-quite matronly look and turned to check up the stairs. "I think you should talk to him about it, not me," she suggested, fiddling with the pen she always seemed to have nestled behind her ear. "He's in a meeting right now, though, so you need to wait until Reeve comes out of there."

"Reeve, eh? What's the crazy cat-man going on about?"

"He wants Rufus to have the damages from the AVALANCHE bombing of the Sector 1 reactor and the destruction of Sector 7 fixed. From what I've gotten out of the yelling back-and-forth between them, it doesn't sound like your lover-boy is going for it."

I gawked at her, suddenly cured of my drug-induced lethargy. She simply gave me a look that said, "Yes, I did just say that."

I found it fascinating the things that some of Rufus' employees could get away with, while others would die if they made one wrong move.

* * *

"You have no way to prove that there is anything going on between us!" Reno hissed at the secretary, trying not to let anybody who may have accidentally walked in on their conversation hear.

"I have a hunch," said Janice, simply.

"How could you even suggest that? You know, if he were to find out you said that, he'd probably kill you."

"No, he wouldn't. He is quite aware that I know things about him that he doesn't want to admit. It's actually quite cute, some of the things he tells me about you."

Reno's brain practically exploded as he processed the fact that Rufus' secretary (not even a high-level employee, comparatively speaking) had just done the unthinkable and suggested that her extremely volatile and dangerous employer had done things that could be remotely considered "cute".

Seeing the expression this caused on Reno's face made Janice force herself to suppress a laugh. "You know, he carried you through here with you holding onto the lapel of his jacket, a huge grin on your face like you were having an especially happy dream, with him looking more embarrassed than I'd ever seen him. When he put you out on the couch out there, he came back in here and asked me what he should do with you, seeing as he very well couldn't carry you to your room like that. I told him to leave you on the couch, and then told him exactly what I just told you. I know there's been something going on between you two for a while. I've seen it growing over the years."

"How could you see it growing? He's been gone for most of it! And that's not to even say we're together, because you obviously don't expect _me _to be g…"

"I was his liaison while he was in Junon, and he made sure to keep in touch with me, and make even more care to keep me in touch with you, so that I could tell him how you were doing."

Reno melted, his previous statement suddenly drowned out by new thoughts. "What all did you tell him?"

"Mostly about your health, if you were troubled about something, and the like. I tried to avoid it, though, because it seemed to depress him to hear about you. He was more upset the last couple of years, because you weren't coming around as often, and you were so shut out when you did come that I couldn't figure out enough about how everything was going to give him much information about you."

Reno nodded. He hadn't really noticed how much he had shirked away from Janice when he'd gotten together with Nora, but he figured it was because Janice was connected with Rufus, and anything connected with Rufus made him feel guilty. The redhead sighed. "I wish you'd told me how he was every once in a while. You know how long I tried to pry that info out of you?"

"He forbid me from even mentioning his life in Junon to you."

"Why?"

"For the exact reason I didn't want to tell him anything about you." Janice seemed tired. She looked older than Reno knew she was, and more pallid than he had ever seen her. Nonetheless, she managed a faint semblance of a smirk that, with the slight shine in her eyes, brought out the aura of clever, watchful wisdom that had allowed Reno to trust her, and had probably done the same with Rufus. She reminded him a lot of a mother, and he wondered suddenly if she and her husband had any kids.

It was at that highly inappropriate moment in the middle of Reno's thoughtful reverie that a man with mid-length dark hair and a goatee stormed down the stairs of Rufus' office and past the two at the desk. The redheaded Turk shrugged toward the secretary, and she gestured for him to go up the stairs.

* * *

Reeve Tuesti was unappreciated, and he didn't know why.

The Shinra head of City Affairs and Urban Development could never quite figure out what it was about him that his peers, Rufus, and Rufus' father before him despised so much. After all, Reeve had finally done it.

He had finished the project he'd been working on for four years.

Perhaps it was how consumed he'd been in that project. Perhaps it was because of exactly what that project entailed. After all, even though it was an extremely advanced piece of engineering, his Peaceful Observation and Interaction Unit, Cait Sith Entity #01 didn't seem to fit into the rest of Shinra's varied repertoire of men and machines. He had, on orders from the ex-President, added in a complex backup program that would allow the Cait Sith Entity #01 to defend itself if the need arose, but, still, nobody seemed to understand.

It wasn't right.

Had it been him who had chosen the Gold Saucer--one of the world's and Shinra's biggest economic hotspots, but not a particularly easy-to-spy-on location--as a place to station his, as his peers referred to it, "Stupid, Worthless Spy-Cat"? No. What else would fit into the bright, fluorescent theme park besides the most bizarre and unique creation ever to come out of Shinra's ranks?

Not right. Not fair.

Or, maybe, it wasn't Cait Sith at all, but simply the fact that Reeve was too nice and too much of a pushover for his own good.

Or maybe, very simply, a mix between the two.

Reeve stepped into his office, turning on the lights to reveal a large, pink thing with a tiny king-of-cats sitting on top. As Reeve entered, it was as if the cat sensed his presence--even though it would be quickly obvious to an outsider that the creature was actually a machine--and suddenly almost seemed to come to life, greeting its maker with a "Hello, Mr. Tuesti!" in an almost overly-cute voice that might have made one reminisce about shows they used to watch as a child.

"Cait, tell my fortune," said Reeve sullenly to the robotic creature.

Cait Sith spun a few times on top of its stuffed "Mog" base and pulled a small strand of ticker tape, like a magic trick, from an invisible slot that only Reeve knew where to find. "Embrace your friends. You never know how much you may miss them when they're gone for good," read the fortune-teller.

Reeve laughed at that. He had programmed Cait with an AI that judged people's situations and attempted to tell a fortune that would make them feel better. It never seemed to work on him.

He suddenly realized how pathetic it was that Cait was the only one who ever greeted him with such enthusiasm, and that ever attempted to be nice.

How pathetic, that his only friend was a robotic cat in a world where being nice was a sin.

* * *

"Hello, Reno."

"How'd you know this time?" asked Reno to Rufus, who again hadn't looked up from his work when the Turk had entered.

"Intercom. Janice told me."

"Oh."

"How do you feel?"

"Great. What was that shit?"

"Concentrated tribal medication from Cosmo Canyon. Miracle herbs and the like, most likely hallucinogenic. Dream well?"

"So those aren't even from a friggin' _pharmacy_? They're from a bunch of old guys with beards who sit around a fire smoking a communal pipe and telling stories about the planet?"

"Ah, so you've been to Cosmo Canyon, I take it?" The edge of Rufus' mouth twitched upward slightly.

"Yeah, they're a bunch of weirdos. I had a mission there to try and get information on the Ancients, and I ended up getting chased out by a group of guys in cloaks with torches." Reno gave Rufus a questioning look. "Those guys hate Shinra and everything associated with them. How'd you manage to get in there long enough to get medicine from them?"

"I walked in, said 'hello', and asked them if I could have a chat with the elder. By the way, the communal pipe is full of very strong opiates that make conversation more…truthful, if I must say so myself."

"You didn't."

"Yes, I did. I told them that I was there for personal research purposes, in regards to a book that I received from my mother, and they told me that a man named Bugenhagen was the one I needed to see, so he and I spoke about the Cetra, Gaia, and other pertinent matters, and then I sent some other information over to Midgar about the whereabouts of Bugenhagen's adopted grandson Nanaki, who was wanted by the science department."

"Grandson?"

"I never met him, that I remember. All that I know was that, when I was there, he was out on a hunting trip, which made it very easy for our company to intercept him and take him into custody without having to enter the city itself."

"So, you drained information for yourself out of this poor guy, and then helped to kidnap his grandson?"

"Yes. It was easy, since he had undoubtedly taken in more smoke than I had, and was very calm and very open with his words. It was easy to gather what facts I both wanted and needed, and then leave without a word, taking a lovely little souvenir with me."

Reno cringed. "Your complete cruelty to others never, ever ceases to amaze me."

"I owed Hojo a favor, since I never properly thanked him for the Mako."

"Thanked him? That shit fucked you up, and made you fuck me up worse. You killed me, remember? Why would you want to _thank_ him? That's not a favor from him, if you asked me. He probably got off knowing what happened with that stuff."

Reno suddenly thought of what it would be like for Hojo to "get off" about anything and turned a lovely shade of pale green. Rufus quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Bad mental image," said Reno.

"Ah."

"Hey, do you know what the other Turks are doing on their mission? I feel kinda left out."

Rufus motioned under his desk, not letting the movement interrupt what he had been doing. The redhead came around the desk and looked where the blonde was pointing, finding a box of files. He flipped through them absently, looking for the most current ones.

"Is there anything restricted in here?" wondered Reno aloud.

Rufus continued to work, signing some of the papers in his inbox and ripping others in half. "No. I wouldn't dare keep any important files in such an easily accessible place."

"Easily accessible? You're sitting right there! _Nothing _is easily accessible with you around."

"Oh it is, is it?" asked Rufus with a trace of a grin.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Reno thought for a moment to let Rufus' pun (and the fact that he had made such an obnoxiously simple pun in the first place) sink in, and then allowed himself a bit of a chuckle. "Smart-ass." The Turk sat on the edge of the desk with the file he'd been searching for. "Attempt to track and locate Sephiroth and the members of AVALANCHE. Sounds like an easy mission."

"Not so much. The General, especially, is quite adept at leaving what would seem like very obvious clues as to his whereabouts, and then disappearing without a trace."

"Sounds like fun."

"Jolly good time," drawled the President sarcastically.

"You look stressed."

"I have to be at Junon tomorrow for the little publicity stunt known as my inauguration ceremony. I get to sit in a new Shinra model convertible and look like I'm excited to be waving at the crowd."

"Junon's taken a bit of a liking to you, then?"

"Some of them. It's like here. It all depends on who you ask. People's opinions of me seem to be rather black-and-white, though. Either they worship the ground I walk on--though they'd never admit that I ever had to do something as lowly as walk, of course--or they despise me. Nothing in between, it seems."

"So I've noticed." Reno squinted a bit and leaned in to look at the blonde's left ear. "Speaking of noticing, I just realized you have an earring. I never saw that before."

"Yes, I got it a few years back."

"What for? Any particular reason?"

"I was sick of being stuck in my office, so I went to the bottom layer of Junon in civilian clothing, and I found a woman running a craft stand in front of her house."

"Really? Not what I expected. What's it made of?"

"Just glass. She was selling the set for fifteen gil. I saw them, and they made me think of a pair of green eyes that I vowed I would remember. The woman looked at me, bowed her head, and told me I could have anything I wanted for free."

"I guess she recognized you, huh?"

"Obviously."

"So, you just _took_ one of this poor lady's earrings from a set? Hell, the other one'll probably never sell, either. Once again, you never cease to amaze me."

"I'm not done. I asked her if she had anything that I could use to pierce my ear, and she handed me a needle. I used it, put in the stud, set fifteen thousand gil on the table, and told her to keep the change and have a nice day."

Reno gawped. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not _always_ a cold, heartless bastard. I do occasionally feel the need to perform random acts of charity."

"So, you're saying that you, the richest man in the world, are wearing a _glass_ earring that you bought for a thousand times the price of the set."

"Exactly." Rufus made no attempt to cover the smile the idea caused him. "Bizarrely fitting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, a bit."

"I also took a pair of platinum cuff earrings from a man in a shop on the upper level who tried to charge me eight times the asking price because he knew that I could afford it."

"Took? As in stole?"

"Of course."

"Figures."

"The cuffs are for you, for your cartilage piercing, by the way."

"You stole me a gift? How sweet," Reno said, his voice utterly sincere.

Rufus pulled a small box from his desk drawer and held it behind him for Reno to take. Through this, the blonde never stopped doing his paperwork.

"Thanks," said Reno, taking the box and looking at the cuffs inside it. "I needed new ones anyway. The ones I got a while back were starting to tarnish."

"Those won't. Not for a long while."

"Just wondering, how much would these have cost if you hadn't just nicked 'em?"

"Twenty-thousand, without the extra he tried to charge me. A hundred and sixty thousand with it."

"Damn, these are high-dollar."

"Only the best for you."

"Even if you didn't pay for them."

"That doesn't make them of any less quality."

"No, I guess it doesn't." The redhead wrapped his arms around the blonde's neck. "Will you stop working for a second?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I want to actually sleep before my trip tomorrow, and I need to get this done before that."

"Ah, who needs sleep?"

"I'm trying not to procrastinate this time so that I can get in some other things before the sleep."

"Other things?"

Rufus hummed, a rough, almost-growl, almost-purr.

"How about, since you'll have time for '_other things_' later, we just…switch things around a bit?"

"No."

"Now you're just teasing me."

"Yes."

"Fine, then I just have to distract you."

"It won't work."

"How about I perform erotic acts in front of your desk until you can't ignore me anymore?"

"I have very good peripheral vision, and I can multitask. I'll watch the show, _and_ I'll work. That sounds like a wonderful idea to me. What about you?"

"It sounds like you're an asshole."

"That's why you're here."

"Touché"

"So, Man-slave, get to work. I am a very impatient asshole." Reno caught a glimpse of an evil smirk on the blonde's downcast face.

"What if I refuse? They you'll just have to get up and force me."

"No, then I will just use my imagination."

"You haven't lost it," Reno gave in, moving back around the crescent-shaped desk and sitting on its edge. "You know, you could always just humor me and make up for all those years I had to endure alone. But no, you're right back to being a cold-hearted bastard…"

"Guilt-tripping won't work, either."

"Damn." The redhead stood behind his boss and began to rub his shoulders, a gentle massage at first. "You know, I think it's kind of funny. When your dad was around, you'd actively procrastinate. Now that he's gone, your work ethic's suddenly spotless."

Rufus leaned into his chair a bit as the massage grew more intense. "I wish you wouldn't bring him into this, but that is a very good observation. The reason should be obvious, though."

"Oh, yeah?"

"There's nobody to annoy via procrastination anymore, so now all I can do is annoy you by working."

"I won't give in as easily as him, though. I'm not giving up just yet."

"So I've noticed." The massage moved up to the blonde's neck.

"Feel good?"

Rufus groaned his approval.

"You're stiff. Lots of knots."

"I didn't know you could massage."

"I went to classes. I'm a certified masseuse , you know." Reno chuckled. "Of course, the only reason I went to classes was for the demonstrations. We all got to practice on each other. Nora was the one who got me into it."

"If I ever see her in the afterlife, I'll have to thank her."

"That won't be anytime soon, I hope."

"Who knows? It could be ten seconds from now, or it could be ten years."

"You know, you put it that way, and none of the killing seems that bad."

"It's still bad, Reno."

"But at least you'll be able to repent eventually, right?" Reno smiled as Rufus put his pen down, leaning into the redhead's learned hands.

"I suppose so, but that's no excuse."

"We're getting depressing again. New subject: I got you to stop working."

"Yes, you did."

"How much do you have left?"

"Too much. But don't talk about it. I may change my mind."

"So fickle."

Rufus moved his hand to one of Reno's and pulled the other man around for a kiss. "I missed you," murmured the blonde in between moments where their mouths met.

"Could've fooled me," returned the Turk, almost breathless in between the kisses, where he should have been taking in air.

"I don't want…don't want to be President."

"I know."

"I just want to be…"

"Here," finished Reno for him.

"Like this…"

"Forever…" Reno broke their mouths' embrace. "But you can't. I got what I wanted. I'll let you work."

"Thank you." Rufus smiled, sadly, as Reno walked out of his office.

* * *

"Reno, what the hell are you doing here?" Rufus asked as he met the redhead on the helipad the next morning.

"I got notified of a new mission for me in the middle of last night, before you got in. My phone scared the shit out of me. I never told you; I picked up a new skill while you were away, trying to get over one of my fears. Still hate the damned things, but they don't totally freak me out anymore."

"What the fuck are you rambling on about?"

Reno flourished, a great, large grin plastered on his face. "I, Reno Kiribani, am your helicopter chauffeur for your trip to Junon."

"Holy hell. We are going to die," sneered Rufus, a bit of a dull, joking tone etching his voice.

"I'm actually a _good _pilot, believe-it-or-not and thank-you-very-much."

"How'd you end up flying me?"

"Been nagging the transportation agency about it since I left last night, trying to get them to put me in instead of the other guy."

"And they listened? Remind me to fire them."

"I pointed a gun at the guy at the desk."

"You can actually shoot now, too? I'm impressed. My little Reno's just growing up so fast."

"_Thanks_, Mom."

"Oh, we have a complex, do we?"

"Eh?"

"Never mind."

Reno shrugged. "Well, you all packed and ready to go? I noticed you never came in last night."

"I did for a little bit while you were sleeping. Everything's prepared."

"Did you sleep at all?"

"No."

"Shit, I'm sorry, man."

"It's not your fault. I had more to do than I thought. That is all."

Reno grimaced. "Oh, okay. Well, ready?"

"Just don't crash." This was said with a smirk.

"Don't say that, or you'll make me nervous again."

"Don't worry so much. Let's just get going. If you mess up, we'll just deal with it when it happens."

"Thanks. You're always so reassuring," the Turk muttered sarcastically.

Rufus flashed a bit of a grin and climbed into the helicopter, throwing a small bag in before him. Reno popped his head in after the blonde. "Hey, you wanna ride co-pilot?" The redhead looked at the bag. "Not taking much, are you?"

"Yes, and no."

"You gonna watch me drive, just to make sure I don't fuck it up?"

"No. I'm going to sleep. The cockpit seats are more comfortable."

The Turk wasn't sure if he wanted to frown or smile at that. Instead, he made an attempt to be helpful. "Hey, you want some of those headphoney…things? You know 'copters are a bit loud."

"I'll be fine, I assure you."

"I mean, I know I can deal with it. I listen to heavy metal and all. Used to the noise." Reno offered a light-hearted chuckle in Rufus' direction. "You, you like all that opera and piano shit, so I figured you'd like to dim the racket a bit, especially if you're trying to sleep."

Rufus sat back, picked up the "headphoney things" from a hook on the dash in front of him, and placed them over his ears, leaning back into the co-pilot's seat as he sat down with a resigned sigh.

Reno hopped into the pilot's seat and started the engine with a sigh. "To Junon," he said to himself, and images of eight years alone flashed through his mind's eye.

Rufus had already fallen into sleep.

* * *

**Miya's Note: Yes, I know it's short. A disappointment to all of you, I know. I feel so bad for having taken so long (yet again) on updating, and by giving you all such a short chapter after all of that wait. Admittedly, this one almost did me in. Writing the ending for it was a chore. I had such a terrible writer's block toward the end of it that the first ten pages took me one night to write, while the last 2/3 of a page took me…what? Four months? I have a section that was supposed to go into this chapter, but this chapter just was too stubborn to get there, so I let it die, instead of making you all wait for ANOTHER few months. Hopefully, a new start will help me out, since I already have some of 28 planned out. **

**Don't forget to post your guesses for my little semi-contest. Anyone who guesses right is a winner, and you can have as many tries as you want. Any guesses past the first can be sent through p.m. You can ask for hints, too. I'm doing this to not only give you guys a chance to pry info out of me, but to, hopefully, get my brain up and running again. Tough questions make me think or rethink my ideas, which will inspire me to put out even better content.  
**

**As always, constructive criticism is as welcome as compliment. I know I'm not perfect, but I try my hardest to better my writing. :D**

**BAU is almost done! I'm gonna be wrapping things up pretty soon, so my 30-chapter estimate should be about right. You all finally get to see my favorite part…which I've had written for over a year now.**

**Then I get to start P3. Why do I do this to myself? (No, really, it's cuz I lurve you all.)**


	28. The Last Days of Relative Peace

**Business As Usual**

**Chapter 28: The Last Days of Relative Peace**

**By Miyamashi**

**Miya's Note: Okay, so I took forever again…blah, blah, blah…this time I have a valid excuse. I've been insanely busy with college things, especially with trying to get transferred. Still, I'm sorry for making you all wait, but for all of your patience, this is the longest chapter yet, with the most actual FF7 content. Hope you guys like it.**

**Remember my 30-chapter estimate? Well, I was pretty close. This story will most likely end with this chapter, two more regular chapters, and the epilogue, unless something drastic changes my mind. Then, P3 will begin. Also, the contest from Ch. 27 will continue until the prologue of P3 is posted, so feel free to keep trying until then. (If you sent me a PM and didn't get a reply, that means it didn't go through. In fact, I haven't gotten anything as far as PMs go in a very, very long time. If you want, you can e-mail me directly, instead. My mail is miyamashi(at)msn(dot)com, with the appropriate symbols in place of the words in parentheses.)**

**Chapter 28 Hint: The secondary protagonist has been mentioned only briefly, once in WF, a couple of times in Chapter 1, and once in Chapter 23. The name of this character has been said only twice before now. As far as this chapter goes, I won't tell. **

**Also, I gave most of you this hint already, but remember that P3 takes place _after _the events in White Flag. That's important. Also, if you know where to look, I actually gave the answer away somewhere else (meaning not on this site), and using that to your advantage is perfectly acceptable.**

**I'm so excited. The ending to this story is something I've been wanting to share with you all for a VERY long time. **

**Re-Disclaimer: I should have done this earlier, but now that I'm quoting actual text from the game, I feel it's pertinent to re-establish that any content from the original game is not mine, but is the property of Square-Enix. All that I own is my interpretation of what goes on around the actual scenes, the thoughts of the characters during them, and any content and ideas not present in the game or any of its various sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. (Advent Children and Before Crisis will come in more in P3. Yes, I do have a plan for working them in, as well as a bit of Dirge of Cerberus.) **

* * *

As much as the both of us always tried and tried again to continue on as if there had never been any time when we were apart, joking like we had eight years prior, it started to become really, painfully obvious that time had passed. It was a lot harder to notice it with myself. Of course, I'd had to live with myself and watch as all the changes started occurring slowly.

With Rufus, it was a lot like it is with a child's height. It seems like one day, a kid is shorter than you. Then, you see him again and he's grown a good foot and a half and you suddenly have to look up to talk to him. It's a lot more sudden. With Rufus, it wasn't his height that had changed, but his stamina.

And, no, I don't mean that in the sexual sense, you sick bastard.

Sorry. I couldn't help that one.

Rufus was tired, when he'd been almost tireless before. It almost made him seem…old, like he was just shutting down. Looking over at him in the helicopter really made me realize it. He wasn't sleeping in that peaceful kind of way. No, it looked almost painful with the way his face was kind of scrunched up and his shoulders were drawn up next to the sides of his head. He was slouched over in this kind of odd way that looked almost like he was trying to keep warm.

I tried not to watch him too much. I sure as hell didn't want us to crash and die with him like that. It just wouldn't have been right.

When I really started staring forward, I began to see Junon in the distance. It looked just like it had when I'd gone there on my mission to save Rufus when this all had started. It sent knots into my stomach just like it had then. Landing the helicopter, I began to have flashbacks of that time, and I looked over at Rufus to find him still asleep.

* * *

Reno leaned over and moved the headset from one of Rufus' ears. The blonde stirred, his shoulders relaxing and his eyes cracking open slowly and drowsily.

"Hey. We're here, sleepy," said Reno, leaning in with a half-forced smile.

Rufus groaned, and when ice-eyes opened, they met a worried aquamarine gaze.

"What time is it?" asked Rufus.

"About 1300 hours."

"Still early," murmured the blonde, dread and tired aggravation edging his voice.

"Yeah," Reno agreed solemnly to both the spoken and unspoken.

Rufus sat up straight, pushing the headset off of him. It clinked to the floorboard of the helicopter. Then, he simply sat there for a long while. Neither he nor Reno moved, and the silence didn't even allow for the drawing of breath.

When Reno finally broke that silence, the new President of Shinra Incorporated twitched just barely in shock.

"I have something for you," said Reno.

"Oh?"

"Well, I say it's for you, but it's kind of for me, too."

Rufus cocked an eyebrow tiredly in Reno's direction.

"I at least figured it might help keep you calm while you have to deal with all of this, or at least give you a good laugh before the ceremony." The Turk pulled a small box from his pocket, handing it to the blonde.

Rufus glared when he saw what it was. "Cigarettes?"

"For the fashion statement."

Rufus tried to hold back an uncharacteristic snort of laughter. Reno was rather happy to see that the blonde already looked a bit more lively.

Then, Rufus read the box. "Shiva Slims: The cigarettes for women, by women, with that cool menthol taste that _women_ love."

Reno's face betrayed his attempt to hide his own hysterics.

"You really think you're ever going to catch me smoking one of these disgusting things?" Rufus asked as he held the box up and shook it slightly like a mother with a bad report card, dropping back into a more usual tone of voice; the one that made Reno cringe like a struck dog.

"It's proven that nicotine helps calm the nerves."

"But _women's_ cigarettes, of all things? Are you implying something here?"

Reno rolled his eyes innocently. "They're thin, they're long…"

"They're phallic."

"I was gonna say elegant, but whatever floats your boat."

"No," said Rufus with a glare, dropping back into a tired sigh.

Reno felt the need to resort to petty begging. "Just one drag?"

"No."

"One little puff?"

"Why are you so fucking…"

"Annoying?" the redhead piped in.

"I was going to say insistent, but that works, too."

Reno tried to make his most pathetically endearing face, which came out looking simply pathetic.

"You're not helping your cause. You just look stupid."

"But why not?"

"I don't want to smell like smoke, like _you_ do every day. Hell, I get enough of it rubbed off on me as is."

Reno pouted. "That's low. I just want to see you smoke. Just once. Call it a fetish, okay?" The Turk flailed his hands in the space around his head. "I mean, it's _sexy_. I want a memory to keep me occupied while you're out doing all your presidential things."

Rufus looked over the other man for a too-long moment, and then shrugged, a smirk gracing his features. "You're so lucky that I have a soft spot for you." He butted in before Reno could say anything. "_And I'm tired_."

"Of dealing with me?"

"Yes."

"…So, you're gonna do it?"

"Just this once."

"Oh, how wonderful! Rufus is giving into peer pressure." The blonde could have sworn that Reno had almost squealed.

Rufus flicked the Turk off before he pulled the wrapper from the carton. "You're such a fairy."

Reno decided to ignore that statement, knowing full well that Rufus was pushing his buttons on purpose, and instead handed the blonde a lighter, pulling his own Malboros from his pocket.

"Hold on. What do you think _you're _doing?" said the blonde tauntingly.

"Having a smoke with you?"

Rufus shook his head. "I have one condition."

"Aw, fuck."

"I don't even have to say it. You know what's coming."

"Yeah." Reno put his cigarette back in its pack and held out his hand. "I should have figured."

"Yes, you should have."

"Just give it here," grumbled the redhead annoyedly.

"Oh, you really _do_ want this," the blonde mocked, waving a Shiva Slim in front of Reno's nose.

The Turk took it quickly with a grunt. "Yeah, or else I'd never smoke one of those girly things."

"But you expect me to?"

"You're girlier than me. You don't _have_ a masculinity to protect."

Rufus' eyes shot daggers.

Reno laughed.

Rufus smirked.

The two men rested the cigarettes between their lips and lit them with the same flame.

"You're a natural," said Reno, noting how easily Rufus sank into the smoker's role.

"You, on the other hand, look rather uncomfortable."

"Do I look gay with this cigarette?"

"Yes."

"How gay?"

"Very. Flamingly so." Rufus took a drag and blew the smoke into Reno's face.

"Whatever. I don't care anymore."

"That's good."

After a pause, Reno added, "But I'm not gay."

"I know."

"I'm straight."

"You just happen to be fucking a guy."

"Exactly."

Rufus and Reno leaned against the side of the helicopter, simply trying to stop time at that moment. But, as the smoke drifted upwards, time visibly went on, their cigarettes grew short, and the knots in their stomachs grew tighter. Soon--too soon--Rufus stood fully, put out the cigarette, and disappeared into the helicopter.

Reno watched, still smoking slowly, as Rufus came back out with his single, small suitcase. The two looked at each other for a short while, and then the blonde moved toward his partner, thought better of it, and turned around.

"Wait, Rufus."

The new President shook his head and felt a hand clasp around his.

The Turk leaned up as Rufus' lips brushed briefly over his, the smell and taste of smoke etching the air between them.

And Rufus walked away.

* * *

The ceremony was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but Reno was simply irked. From the top floor of a Junon motel, he stared down at the parade through his room window. Though he couldn't see Rufus' face from his perch, Reno could distinguish him easily in the crowd, and knew the man well enough to imagine what was going on.

Rufus would be sitting in the convertible, smiling politely as he waved to the crowds of people gathered around the streets, but his eyes, if one looked closely enough, would betray his hatred for the common people and their mindless worship. When Rufus passed, a few select troops of SOLDIERs filed by, marching with weapons in tow, sporting off some moves that looked flashy, but would do nothing for them in the heat of battle.

Reno always had to laugh at that, the way SOLDIER spent days and weeks training for shows, when they could have been using that time to train to fight.

At one point, the Turk really had to laugh as one of the troop members seemed to be stumbling very visibly with his gun.

When the parade had passed Reno completely, Rufus was already at the route's end, waiting for the ceremony to finish. The same SOLDIER brigade that Reno had seen earlier gave the new President a performance, ending with an odd twirling move that made the blonde smile inwardly as he recognized it.

Rufus stared intently at one man standing in the back line, who seemed to be having trouble following the sequence up until that finishing move, when he suddenly gained the confidence that he needed to pull that trick off better than the rest of the platoon combined. After all, this wasn't a common-practice maneuver, and Rufus remarked at how easily the young "cadet" had blown his cover.

Despite the shoddy performance, Rufus gave the group a high review. After all, it was nice to meet up with Cloud Strife again, who had used that same move as Rufus had begun to fly away on his helicopter after their fight. The blonde suspected that the rest of the rag-tag group was around as well, and hoped that they would join him on his coming boat ride to Costa Del Sol. After all, stowaways always seemed to add interest to otherwise monotonous days.

* * *

When Reno arrived much later with the helicopter in Costa Del Sol, he heard news of General Sephiroth's appearance on Rufus' ship, as well as the arrival of the same AVALANCHE group that he himself had encountered in Sector 7. This information put the redhead on edge until the ship docked, Rufus in tow.

"Are you going to let them get away?" asked Reno as the President climbed into the helicopter.

"AVALANCHE? Of course. We can't go getting our front line against the General killed just yet, can we?"

"Eh?"

"Let them go after Sephiroth. We have more important matters."

"Oh." Reno shrugged, apathetic.

"I scared the fuck out of Heidegger, though, when he found out about the group's 'escape'. He probably thought I was going to shoot him there on the dock."

The Turk snickered.

Rufus sat back in his seat as the helicopter took off. "Yes, let them take care of Sephiroth. I just want the Promised Land."

"What?" yelled Reno over the rotors.

Rufus picked up his headset and spoke into the microphone attached to it so that Reno could hear. "I want the Promised Land."

"That's more Cetra stuff, right? I think I remember that part."

"Yes. The Promised Land is what the Cetra view as where they go after death. It's a land where the Lifestream flows freely." Rufus settled into his chair, a light, dreamlike smile etching his features.

"Okay, so how the hell are you planning to…get…the…_thing _if it's where they go after they _die_? I'm a bit lost, and I don't like the sound of where this is going."

"Think about it. If the Promised Land is where the Lifestream flows freely, that means that it's somewhere on the planet. Lifestream equals Mako. Now that my father's dead…Midgar's tapping the planet dry. We need a new source. If that Promised Land is real…"

Reno sighed, keeping his eyes on the sky ahead of him. "Then, we'll just tap it dry, too, just like every other source of Mako, and it'll kill the planet faster. Rufus, you're rambling."

"If it's real, we may be able to leave Midgar. Make a new Midgar. A Neo-Midgar, if you will. It can spread out instead of up. We can find a different way to use the Mako…without burning it…Abandon my father's Midgar and let it rot. No more slums, no more tower…"

"Rufus…"

"I'm so tired…" Reno could hear the trembling in the blonde's voice. "…Of my father's world."

"And you hope your mother's would be better?"

"Yeah."

"But there's one problem."

"What's that?"

"That's not her world. It's the Cetra's."

"Then I'll have to make it mine instead."

Reno laughed, taking his own headphones off, ending the conversation.

* * *

The name "Sephiroth" grew akin to that of "Hell" in the weeks that were to follow, especially to Reno. Where Sephiroth was sighted, Rufus followed, suddenly consumed by his urges to find the Promised Land, hoping that the equally, if not more, crazed and dangerous General would be able to find some clue as to where the key to Rufus' dream-utopia lay.

Reno hadn't seen Rufus in too long for his liking, promoted back to official on-duty Turk when word got to the others about his act as chauffer.

He was worried. That Sephiroth was bad news. If the General could kill one man who thought himself a god, what little chore would it be for him to kill another?

Reno swatted that thought forcefully away.

On his own missions, Reno tried to block the General's name from his mind. Oh, how he hated that name.

It was when that name snuffed out a second life, however, that Reno was finally reunited with the blonde President, even if only for a little while.

Before that moment, however, Reno and Rufus lived different stories again, like they had for far too long while the blonde had been away.

* * *

Reno's story during this time began in the small, half-destroyed village of Gongaga. Reno felt out-of-place there--though he wouldn't admit it to the world--as Gongaga's destruction had come as a result of a Shinra-Inc. Mako reactor's sudden and unexpected explosion. It was there, in Gongaga, as Reno looked around at the villagers' both saddened and angry faces that he began to re-think what Rufus had been saying in the helicopter.

Rude was standing with him. Reno had tried to convince the bald Turk that they should wait on the outside edges of the city, but Rude had objected, preferring to remain in the middle of things to avoid their targets coming in from a different direction from the one where they were stationed. Reno stared at his partner for a bit, and then went back to thinking.

This was no utopia. This was the basest, lowest part of the world. It was a slum, just like the one in Midgar. The Cetra, like in the book that Reno had been given, described paradise. They described a "Promised Land".

Reno suddenly envied the Cetra, and Rufus. How could they have so much damn hope when places like this were always staring them in the face? How, especially, could a man like Rufus who sometimes seemed little more than a suicidal time-bomb, still carry that tiny grain of optimism?

Was it optimism at all, or was it sheer despair at things like what Reno stood in the middle of at that moment that caused them to _have_ to believe to live with their own pain?

Did that make Reno weaker than Rufus, or stronger? Than the Cetra?

Reno was interrupted from his thoughts by the saliva of a teenager--who was near-impossibly more lanky than he himself was--being hurled into his eye with an odd "pth-yu" sound.

Reno wiped his face, had a silent (and practically one-eyed) stare-down against Rude's sunglasses, and then walked out of the main city, stopping with a pout on a path in the outskirts.

Rude followed soon after, silent, as a couple of people hurled insults instead of spit.

"I told you we should have stayed out here," grumbled Reno. "I said it wasn't a good idea to head _into_ the actual city."

"Where's Elena?" asked Rude. "Aren't we supposed to be watching her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble?"

"Don't change the subject!"

"I think this is more important. She is our responsibility, after what happened in the Mythril Mine."

"I wasn't even there for that, although it's a big I-told-you-so on that one, too," Reno scoffed. "The freakin' newbie opening her big mouth and gave everything away. It ain't my fault! Why the hell do I have to baby-sit her?"

"Because you're still a Turk."

The redhead crossed his arms in front of his chest, and then thought better of it, rubbing some residual spit out of his eye.

"You're just pissy because Tseng put you back on duty, and that means you can't see…"

"Shut up," Reno interrupted, before Rude could go on further. "Hey, at least I have someone. What the hell do you have? Your hand? Some gil and a street corner?"

Rude ignored his partner.

"Unless you _liiiike _somebody…" taunted the redhead.

Rude turned away rather quickly.

"Oh, so Rude _does _like somebody!" Reno came up behind and began to prod the bald Turk, earning a light smack on the head as Rude turned around to give his best shaded death-glare.

Reno was not deterred. "Hey, Rude, who do you like?" He raised his eyebrows as if to say "Huh? Huh?"

Rude turned away again. Blushing was not behavior generally accepted in the unwritten laws of Turk-dom (not to mention manliness), and he preferred Reno not to see him doing just that. But--and Rude slapped himself internally for it, and almost wished he could spit in his own eye--in the most meek, pitiful voice that you could imagine to come out of a man formally named Gertrude, he finally squeaked out, "………..Tifa."

There was a slight rustling in the brush a ways away, but Reno and Rude payed it no heed.

Reno looked thoughtful. "Hmmm…that's a tough one," he said with a knowing look, remembering full well when this crush had originally developed. "But, poor Elena. She…you…"

Rude snapped back into his regular tone of voice, whipping around to face his best friend. "No, she likes Tseng."

Reno gasped slightly, surprised. Then, as he tried to compose himself, oddly giddy, he blurted out, "I never knew that! But Tseng, he likes that Ancient."

More rustling, this time a bit louder. Elena, at this very same moment, just coming back from a walk around the town's border, came up on the source of that rustling, but not before overhearing a bit of her superiors' gossip. Luckily for her, she completely missed the last part.

"It's so stupid," she mused annoyedly. "They always talk about who they like or don't like, but Tseng…he's different."

Said source of the rustling turned around at the sound of the voice.

The rustling gasped. Elena gasped.

Elena ran over to Reno and Rude, forgetting about her angers. "There here, they're really here!"

In response to that, Reno and Rude noticed the presence of Cloud and his group, including a slightly flustered Tifa Lockheart and a seemingly unfazed half-Cetran Aeris Gainsborough in tow, among the others.

Reno stepped forward, and Rude noticed that the redhead took an oddly guarding stance in between Elena and the enemy. "Hmm, then it's time. Rude, don't go easy on them, even though they're girls."

Cloud glared at this, noting the slight innuendo.

Rude simply replied, "…Don't worry. I'll do my job," though he stared at Tifa as he said it.

"Then, we're counting on you!" chirped Elena. "I'll report to Tseng!"

She ran off before Reno could respond, leaving the two facing a group that far outnumbered them.

The redhead gathered himself, letting anger fuel his adrenaline. "It's been a while. Payback time for what you did in Sector 7."

Cloud took the forefront and responded, "Sector 7? Out of our way."

Rude cracked his knuckles in the background as Reno hissed back, "That's sad. I don't like being taken for a fool," running at the group and drawing his electro mag-rod, hoping to catch the foes off-guard.

When Rude joined with a yell of "That's as far as you go," the fight became a flurry of dancing fists, weapons, and magic. Sheer numbers soon overtook the two Turks, and they were forced to withdraw before they sustained any serious injuries or worse.

Reno and Rude both bowed their heads in shame when they had to face Tseng afterward, but Elena's embarrassment was the strongest.

"So, they're in the city?" said Tseng, stoic.

"Yessir. We couldn't take them all," returned Reno, his voice dark.

Elena was silent.

"Reno, Rude, there is nothing we can do here, especially not with the both of you in this state. I am sending you on leave in Wutai. Elena will remain on duty, and will be slated as your bodyguard as you rest, in retribution for her leaving you behind in a time of need."

All three of the lower-class Turks noticed that Tseng was avoiding looking at Elena, and was talking around her. Reno actually felt kind of sorry for her.

"I must go and report this progress to General Heidegger," said Tseng.

The Turks saluted, and went their separate ways.

* * *

Rufus' part of the story while he and Reno were apart took place in Rocket Town.

Frankly, Rufus was not a happy man. In fact, after having to travel with Palmer for an entire trip, in the enclosed space of the helicopter, he was just about fed up.

Every few minutes, Palmer would whine about something new. The seats are too small, the rotors are too loud, the ride's too bumpy, and why isn't there any food? Rufus was just about ready to shoot him and throw his body out the door, and hope that the lard-filled fucker wouldn't crush somebody or their pet on the way down.

Thinking of pets, Rufus was even more angry. He still needed to make Cloud pay.

Wow, he hadn't realized he'd been so attached to Dark Nation.

Palmer stared with his big, bulging eyes as Rufus sighed, cracked his knuckles and his neck, and clenched his fist so hard that, had he not been wearing leather gloves, his nails probably would have drawn blood.

As it were, the gloves would probably have some lovely dents.

Palmer was still staring at him. Rufus glared back and cracked his neck again for good measure. The bulging eyes bulged farther.

"Sir, what's wrong? Are you hungry, too?" squealed Palmer into his headset's microphone.

Rufus flung his headset across the helicopter. The engine noise was deafening, just enough to block the other man's high-pitched, wheezy voice. It was such a welcome change, that the blonde felt that the racket was rather like music. Rufus suddenly appreciated Reno's heavy metal.

The blonde stared at the floor, and was able to find it rather interesting in comparison to his company.

He felt a tap on his shoulder.

He screamed "What the fuck do you want?" but the noise mostly drowned him out.

Palmer seemed to get the idea, though, and squished as far into the side of his seat away from Rufus as he could, and meekly pointed at his ears as if to warn his boss of potential hearing damage.

The President of the New Era leaned back and closed his eyes, and wasn't bothered again until landing, though his annoyance didn't cease.

Every little thing Palmer did when they hit ground, every word he said (as much as it was muffled by the ringing in Rufus' ears), every move he made that caused his fat to jiggle, drove Rufus closer and closer to the edge of what little sanity he may have had left.

Ohhh, that fat. It wasn't as if Palmer had an excuse, either. Heidegger's entire family had been big, some people had medical issues, even the blonde's own (thankfully) dead father had gained weight because of stress-induced binge-eating from the burdens of having been President.. Palmer was just fat for the sake of being fat.

And it was all because of lard.

The very same lard, in fact, that Howard Palmer was jiggling around musing if the town carried in their markets.

One of Rufus' cheeks twitched as bile crept up the back of his throat.

Palmer turned to him. Rufus' eyes were shooting daggers, and the head of Shinra's Space Exploration cringed into his own blubber.

"Go do what we came here to do. Now," growled the blonde.

Palmer ran into the city, and disappeared into a small house in the back. Rufus sighed, and his head fell back as he stared into the sky, at least partly relieved for the moment.

"Rufus!" came a gruff voice from the doorway of the small house where Palmer had gone.

"Cid Highwind," Rufus returned dully, composing himself.

"So, I assume yer here to start the fundin' back up, eh?" said Cid, eagerness tinting his voice as he pointed to an old and rusty, precariously leaning rocket in the center of the town. The rocket, though falling over, was still the tallest structure in the area.

Rufus chuckled internally about that fact, still unused to expansive rural life. He felt an odd pull in his stomach.

When the blonde opened his mouth to speak, his voice was cold and cruel as ever, and he could see Highwind's resolve crack. "No, I am not here for that. Do not hang on to futile hopes. The space program is dead."

Rufus allowed himself no remorse for the anger in Cid's voice. "What the..…? You got me all excited for nothing!? Then, what'd you come here for?"

"I want to borrow the Tiny Bronco," said the blonde, mentally noting the way these words seemed to pull at Cid's heart from the inside out. "We're going after Sephiroth, but it seems like we've been going in the wrong direction. But now, we think we know where he's headed, but we have to cross the ocean. That's why we need your plane."

Cid almost burst at the proverbial seams. "Fuck! First the Airship, then the Rocket, and now, the Tiny Bronco. Shinra took outer space from me and now you want to take the sky away from me, too?"

Rufus forced his voice to grow colder, even though the same wires that had ripped Cid's dreams from him were tugging at the blonde President's own un-admittedly long-shattered hope of paradise. "Oh my. You seem to forget that it was because of Shinra Inc. that you were able to fly in the first place."

"What?" At the hatred in Cid's eyes, Rufus was reminded of his Father's angry stares and harsh words that had taken Rufus' childhood aspirations of a normal life away from him. Cid reminded him of a child there, too, but with anger replacing tears in a way that only adults would think to use to cover up their despair.

Rufus closed his eyes for a long moment, turned his back to Cid Highwind and his enraged sadness, and walked away.

He heard Cid's yells, but drowned out their meaning.

When he turned again, the grounded Captain had gone back into his house, but Cloud's group, unsurprisingly enough, was outside the front door. They were fighting with Palmer, who was battling in a sickening display of flashy weaponry from Scarlet (which Rufus hoped would backfire and kill the dumb bastard) and taunts. Rufus looked around him and found something with which to ease his annoyance.

Palmer was losing, and badly, and when Aeris Gainsborough landed a surprisingly painful smack on the side of his head with her metal staff, he decided to run before someone with a slightly more pointy weapon decided they'd like to take a whack.

Palmer ran, screaming, and Cloud and Co. didn't bother to follow.

Rufus, on the other hand, hit Palmer with a truck.

Cloud and Co. used the spare time to turn tail and steal the Tiny Bronco for themselves.

And as Rufus climbed out of his commandeered vehicle, he couldn't help but smile for the first time that day when he looked at Palmer's rather battered form, and he pulled out his favorite shotgun and fired at the plane with a giddy, manic zeal that set the Soldiers whose fleet of helicopters had accompanied his on edge.

Perfect. Rufus grinned, his teeth bared as the group faded into the distance, smoke trailing behind them. He'd let them find Sephiroth first, as he had always done. When either they or Sephiroth were dead, he would reap the bounty, and then kill the other party himself.

He hoped, inside, that Cloud would win so he could strangle the life out of him.

* * *

The second part of Reno's story before death brought him and Rufus together again happened in Tseng's hometown of Wutai. Elena's duty as bodyguard had left her on edge and panicky, and she had her hand in her jacket, on her gun. Her arms were shaking slightly, and her eyes were puffy with unshed tears.

Reno had to laugh at the cruel irony of the fact that Elena had gotten scolded by the man that she spent all of her energy trying to impress, although he had to admit that he was a little sorry for her. Rude receded to the pub to buy drinks for the both of them, while Reno stayed outside to comfort their newest member, which surprised the woman tremendously.

"Aren't you mad at me?" asked Elena, scuffing her toe in the dirt and wringing her hands slightly as she finally relaxed from her fight-ready (or paranoid, as Reno saw it) stance.

"A little, but I still think Tseng was a bit harsh back there."

"I thought you hated me."

"Nah. I was just afraid, I guess, of getting replaced. Jealous, maybe," Reno threw a lopsided grin in Elena's direction.

"I'm a terrible Turk."

"Just new. You'll get used to it soon enough. Plus, I've watched you in the training area before. Did you know that?"

"What?" Elena screeched.

"Whoa, whoa, it's not like I was stalking you or anything! Don't freak out on me. I sure as hell don't need another kick in the nuts." The younger Turk had to smirk slightly at that, with a bit of a blush tinging her cheeks as the redhead continued. "I was just checking on my little protégé. You're pretty good with a gun, you know. Way better than me, and about a thousand times better than I used to be."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you just need some real-world experience, and, you know, I just don't think it's fair for you to have to get it so fast and in such hard times, what with _Sephiroth_ running around. Can make a rookie nervous, you know. You should have seen _my_ first mission. I was a wreck after that one, for sure."

Elena practically glowed, hearing something positive after so much had gone wrong, from the source she least expected it.

"Elena," said Reno.

"Yeah."

"Remember that, no matter what, Turks gotta stick together. We're the only family we have, anymore, and we come with all the benefits and all the troubles that every dysfunctional family has, from the teasing to the arguing about dating troubles." This last part was said with a wink.

"What…what are you talking about?"

"I know how you feel for Tseng. Rude told me."

Elena didn't say anything to that.

"I think you should call him. Apologize, try to make him understand. Use that womanly charm to your advantage. Get him to soften up."

"N-no! I couldn't do that!"

"Why not? Here, I'll call him for you…"

Elena tried to stop Reno as he pulled out his PHS and dialed Tseng, but the older Turk held the phone out of her grasp. As the connection clicked and Tseng picked up, Elena receded, defeated.

"Yo, Dot-man…"

"I can't believe you're doing this…" Elena grumbled, slumping up against the wall.

"…Yeah, I was just calling to talk about Elena. I think you were a bit hard on her, man."

"Okay…it doesn't seem to be going too bad so far…" the blonde woman reassured herself.

"Yeah, you were really harsh back there. Elena was really hurt…Why do I care? Hey, I'm not completely heartless!"

Elena looked up hopefully, pleading for Reno not to get her into more trouble.

"Listen, Tseng." Reno said, serious. "All I'm saying is that you should apologize, and maybe do something to make it up to her, since she, you know, likes you and everything."

Elena almost _did_ kick Reno in the balls for the second time since she met him, but decided against it and kicked the back of his leg instead.

"Ow!" Reno yelled, causing a startled cry to some from the other side of the line. Then, a pause. "Yeah, she's right here, boss. You wanna talk to her?"

Elena shook her head in an obvious "No!"

"Yeah, here she is." Reno handed the PHS to his younger partner.

Elena took the small phone nervously, and didn't say anything into it, her eyes wide.

"_Elena? Elena, are you there? Reno? Hello?"_ came Tseng's voice.

"…Uhm…Hi, Sir…" squeaked Elena.

"_Oh, there you are. I was wondering if we'd lost connection. Well, I guess I should apologize for my words earlier…"_

Reno smiled, mimed a message for Elena to bring his phone in when she was done, and went into the bar.

Rude looked up from his drink puzzledly.

"Gods, I just played friggin' matchmaker for Elena."

One of Rude's eyebrows arched above the cover of his sunglasses, and he pushed a glass of scotch at his partner.

"Thanks. Man, all this relationship shit is making me soft."

Rude's posture visibly slackened, his shoulders slumping over the counter.

"Oh, that's right. You got totally rejected by that Tifa girl, huh?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Whoa, man. Don't get so touchy. It would have never worked out anyway. She's on their side, we're on ours. All that shit about enemies in love doesn't fly in the real world."

Rude grunted.

"When all of this is over, we'll go out and find you a nice girl on the plate. She'll be smart and pretty, with those big-ass boobs you like so much, and you two will fall in love right away. Rufus'll make the world all better, and you and her can get married and start a happy little family without having to worry about fucking up your job, because, you know, the world will be better, and…"

"Reno, again, shut the fuck up. That's not realistic, either."

"I'm just trying to help."

"You're making things worse, because you're telling me everything that I'll never have."

Reno sighed, swigged some of his drink, and rested his chin on the table. "It's not like I have it much better."

"Yeah, I know."

"Cheers to a life of crap?"

"Cheers."

The partners' glasses clanked together as Elena walked in.

"Don't tell us how happy you are." Grumbled Reno. "We feel like shit."

"You don't wanna know what happened?"

"You can tell us," grumbled Rude about as eagerly as Reno had moments before, "just act upset about it whether it's good news or not."

"Tseng asked me out to dinner," grunted Elena as huffily as she could manage.

Reno laughed as Elena tried not to crack, making a very odd face as she attempted to look sad and angry, despite the elation that filled her.

"Heeey," said the female Turk. "Reno, aren't you with someone, or did you break up?"

Rude ordered another two drinks, and gave one to Elena, while he started on the other himself.

Reno scoffed. "Oh, we're still together, but one of the things I didn't tell you before is that our relationship is…awkward at times, to say the least. Besides, being on duty, it's really hard to get any time with a significant other, good relationship or not, and that can be pretty annoying."

"Oh," was Elena's short reply, and she turned to her drink and sipped at it tenderly.

The three Turks sat, unusually silent, and drank, until the door to the bar opened and Elena turned to see Cloud Strife, followed by the usual group.

Rude and Reno turned as their partner jumped up, her earlier state of unease reestablished. "Y…you! How did you get here?" she screeched. "Never mind that. I guess it's fate that brought us together. Get ready to die!"

AVALANCHE and Elena stood in battle stances, but Reno and Rude remained sitting. "…Elena, you talk too much." Said Reno casually, taking another sip from his drink.

"Wh…what?" Elena stuttered. Cloud's group lowered their weapons slightly.

"What are we doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?" Reno asked to his only female comrade.

"We're taking our vacation and resting up from our work," Elena answered questioningly.

Reno nodded. "Now our vacation is ruined." Elena could tell that this was aimed more at her then it was at the enemy.

"B…but…" she stuttered again.

"…Even the booze tastes bad now," remarked Rude rather bluntly, glaring down into his cup.

Elena apologized and sat back down.

Cloud and Co. looked around, slightly thrown off.

Reno and Rude ignored the other party, deciding instead to talk to each other. "Drink, Rude!" drawled Reno. "How long have we been a team? There have been hard times being a Turk, but all in all, I'm glad I did it. I even got to meet a bunch of wing nuts like you."

Elena stood again, angry. "You're lucky all right," she hissed at AVALANCHE, her alcohol already beginning to hit her system. "Now get out of my sight! The next time we meet I won't be so nice."

Rude turned slightly to his partner and held up his glass. "To the Turks…to Reno…cheers!"

Reno and Rude clinked their glasses as the other group simply turned and left, not quite sure what to think.

Too soon for the Turks' liking, a group of Soldiers set to investigate Wutai for a man known as Don Corneo, a once-ally of Shinra, turned traitor when he leaked a very valuable bit of company information, rushed into the tavern where Reno, Rude and Elena were attempting to relax.

Before this story continues, it would be rather pertinent to note that the Turks, save for Elena, knew about the mission that these Soldiers were on, and were doing everything in their power to ignore it. Don Corneo was the only person in the world that Reno could have even come close to hating as much as Rufus hated Palmer. The Don was the self-appointed leader of a section of Midgar's Sector 6 slums known as Wall Market, also known as the city's biggest hotspot for sin. Though Wall Markets bars and whore-houses, mainly its infamous Honeybee Inn, were known as some of the most top-notch down-class getaways in all Gaia, Reno preferred the lesser-known Ma' and Pa' type of places that littered the corners of the back areas of town, like the now-destroyed Seventh Heaven in his equally now-destroyed ex-home, Sector 7. Wall Market was flashy, crowded, and loud, and the Don's rule involved more indecency to women than even Reno would dare to try, and the redhead had gotten enough of the man from his times as a both a slum-rat and a Turk to last him a few lifetimes.

Rude just wanted to have his drinks in peace.

Reno's first words as the Soldiers filed in, spouting off their newfound information on Corneo's whereabouts , were, "What a drag."

The Soldiers were confused.

Reno continued. "Right now we're off-duty and can't run off to save your butts."

The apparent leader of the troupe spoke up. "We know you're off-duty, but…"

"If you knew that, then don't bother us," Reno retorted angrily. "Lookin' at you is makin' me sober."

Blah, blah, blah. Some shit about orders from Shinra HQ for the Turks to help. Despite, said Turks didn't move, except for Elena, who was fidgeting nervously in her seat.

"And don't think that headquarters isn't going to hear about this!" shouted the Soldier. Elena cringed. Reno and Rude shrugged noncommittally.

The Soldiers left. Elena jumped from her chair. "Reno, do you think that was really such a good idea? I mean, is that the way a professional, a _Turk_ would act?"

The redhead turned. "Elena, don't misunderstand. A professional isn't someone who sacrifices himself for his job. That's just a fool."

Elena turned to Rude questioningly. Rude turned back, unresponsive.

"Well, I don't buy that! Goodbye!" And with that, Elena ran out of the tavern.

Rude tensed.

"Relax," said Reno to his partner. "She's not a child. Let her have her way."

Rude didn't relax.

A few minutes later, when Rude still hadn't relaxed, Reno turned to him. "What's wrong with you? Just enjoy your fucking drink, man!"

"You know him, don't you? Corneo?"

"What's it to you?"

"Elena's a…well, she's a girl."

"She'd probably kick you…hard, if she heard you say that. I know from experience."

Rude dropped his head into one hand, the other swirling his drink annoyedly. "Reno, Don Corneo and girls don't mix."

Reno stopped mid-sip of his glass of scotch, almost choking on the alcohol.

Both men suddenly got up, threw a fairly large amount of gil on the counter, and rushed out into the city of Wutai.

"Hey, I'm sure she'll be okay, right?" asked Reno, unsure. "She's not just any girl. She's a Turk."

Rude grunted.

* * *

Elena's rather good day had suddenly turned to shit. On one hand, though, she suddenly understood what it was like to be abandoned in a tight situation by her partners. This, she thought to herself, had to be a grand hit by the world in retribution for her own mishap in Gongaga. She was, as it turned out, tied rather precariously by Don Corneo and his goons to a giant stone face carved into the cliff wall of Wutai's famous Da Chao mountain.

What Elena didn't realize at the time was that the world, other than driving her karma back at her, was bringing her down slowly from her earlier euphoria, rather than hitting her directly in the face with the upcoming and unavoidable fact that Tseng was, invariably, going to die. This predicament served a third purpose, as well, of forcefully showing her that her Turk partners that were going to be her only support when the news of Tseng's quickly nearing death did eventually reach her did, in fact, care for her.

Elena turned to the other woman that Corneo had captured, a skinny Wutaian teenager that she would later find out was one Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of Lord Godo Kisaragi and the newest member of AVALANCHE. The blonde woman would have tried to hold a conversation with her company had Yuffie not been flailing so madly.

Oh, gods, Corneo was rubbing one meaty hand up the inside of her leg. Elena shivered in disgust.

Elena's aforementioned Turk partners, with AVALANCHE in tow (she presumed to help Yuffie), came running up the carvings of Da Chao, though the Turks hung behind a bit to allow Cloud's group direct access to the Don as they planned, while Corneo scrutinized his hostages in a manner comparable to someone searching through a buffet dinner for something to eat. He was, it was obvious, looking for a woman to sleep with.

As he checked Elena out, she screamed at him, finally fed up, "He…hey, I'm one of the Turks! Don't you think you can get away with this!"

Elena was growing faint. The way Corneo had her tied up was not only digging into her wrists and ankles, but holding them in an awkward enough position that the pain of her entire body was starting to make her mind fuzzy. She could just make out what Corneo was ranting to Cloud's group about.

He wanted a fight. The Don seemed to have a few tricks up his sleeve, and summoned a strange beast, which quickly got absorbed into battle with AVALANCHE, the latter of who quickly came out victorious.

Corneo had no choice, it seemed, but to give up, but he continued to the group. "Why do you think a bad guy like me would swallow his pride and beg for his life?" Then, he proceeded to list a few answers, in multiple choice format. Elena missed the answers and Cloud's response, because her head suddenly became even more fuzzy as she was flipped upside-down on the stone face by some mechanism.

'Man,' she mused, 'this day sucks.'

Reno was understandably pissed. He was mad about Elena. He was mad about having his vacation interrupted. He was especially angry that he had to deal with the lecher again.

"That's enough," said Rude bluntly to his partner.

Don Corneo's laughs were echoing down Da Chao.

"Yeah," returned the redhead. "Let's just get rid of this asshole and go back to the tavern."

"I guess I'm the one laughing last!" echoed the Don's squealing voice.

"No, that would be us," returned Reno as he and Rude walked up the mountainside's carvings.

All Elena could see of any of this through her fuzzy, upturned vision was Reno's hair and a silhouette of Corneo stumbling and nearly falling to his death as something hit him in the chest.

Reno moved to where Corneo was hanging onto the carvings and stood on the man's fingers. Rude put the rest of his throwing daggers in his jacket.

Reno grimaced down at the Don of Wall Market and wanted to spit. "All right Corneo, this'll be over quick, so listen up. Why do you think we went to all the trouble of teaming up with those guys," he gestured to Cloud's group, "to get you?" He smiled, echoing the Don's earlier multiple-choice answers back at him. "One: Because we were ready to die. Two: Because we were sure of victory. Three: Because we were clueless."

He didn't even listen to the Don's answer, but stepped harder on his fingers, wiggled his foot, and then stepped back. Corneo fell hundreds of feet, to certain death.

"Wrong, all wrong. The correct answer was: Because it's our job."

Elena chose that moment to slur as best she could, "Oh, thank you so much. I never expected you to come help…" which only succeeded in causing the world around her head to spin faster.

Reno retorted with something about being a Turk and being weak, she responded in an appropriately professional manner, for her position, and blacked out until later, after she had been untied.

* * *

"You okay?" Reno asked Elena when she had come to.

"Yeah. My head hurts."

Rude had his sunglasses off and was looking at her, a faint smile on his face.

"Where are we?" asked Elena.

"The Inn at Wutai," answered Rude.

"We let AVALANCHE go, for today, since they sorta did help out. Besides, they're still after Sephiroth, which is bad for them and good for us. We managed to pry some info out of them before they left, though. The General's heading for this place called the Temple of the Ancients. From what I know, it's basically a Cetran burial ground. Supposed to be way haunted, and the ghosts there are supposed to be guarding some kind of nasty magic. We called the Company and gave them the info. They're supposed to be sending some people to check it out," said Reno. "Hey, did you know that that girl Corneo had tied up with you is a Kisaragi? Small world, eh?"

Elena didn't know what was so special about this.

"The girl's father, Godo, had a younger brother named Tai who married Liu Takawa-Li, Tseng's sister."

Elena sat up quickly. "Tseng's _sister_?"

"Yeah, she's dead now." Reno was quick to change the subject. "Listen, I don't want you to run off on your own like that anymore, okay? You almost scared Rude to death, and we can't have him, or you for that matter, dying on us, okay?"

Rude grunted.

"Do you know who all was sent to the Temple?" asked Elena.

"Yeah, and you ain't gonna like it," was Reno's reply. "I don't like it, either. He was adamant about going, though. Said he wanted to prove that he was worthy of his position."

Elena was hesitant. "Reno…'he', who?"

"Tseng," Rude butted in. "He normally doesn't go on missions like this, but we couldn't stop him."

The female Turk's stomach sank. "Oh, no. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yeah, me too. I couldn't sleep, thinkin' about it," said Reno.

"How long was I out?" shrieked Elena. "You couldn't possibly have had time to sleep, could you?"

"Elena, you've been unconscious for almost ten hours," stated Rude dryly.

"Yeah, the alcohol and your little predicament didn't seem to mix."

"I don't believe this. I'm so weak…I can't…I have to go help Tseng."

The redhead stood up. "Nuh-uh. You're not going anywhere. Tseng got the Keystone, an artifact that unlocks the Temple, from a robotic spy that Reeve made. It'll be dangerous in there--too dangerous for a newbie--and I don't even know if you'd be able to get in, much less find Tseng if you did."

"Reno, what do you know about this place? What does Sephiroth want there?"

"Well, if I've got my Cetra legends straight, he's gonna be wanting that magic, and that could be really, really bad. See, the legends say that there was a well of Lifestream somewhere in the world, from when Jenova came, that formed two different types of Materia, which were both stored in different places in the world. The Cetra, you see, believe that the world's supposed to be in a complete balance, so one half of that Materia's supposed to be good, and the other one's supposed to be evil. One black, and one white. One can heal the world, and one can destroy it. If the Cetra holed up one of the materia in a friggin' temple that you have to go through all of these ceremonies to unlock and that the ghosts of the Cetra are guarding, my guess is that it sure as hell isn't the good one that's in there, if there's anything there anymore."

Elena shivered. "I'm liking this less and less by the moment. Reno, how do you know all of this."

"I did some reading. The book was a gift."

"Does it say anything else?"

"Dunno. It's been a bit since I read it, and it's back at HQ."

Rude stood and walked up next to his partners. "Elena, you're shaking. You okay?"

"No." She looked up, her eyes unsure. "What if he finds it? The magic? Tseng's gonna be in danger. I don't want him going near that place!"

Reno turned to the other Turks. "You know what? We're on vacation, so we can do whatever the hell we want. How about we take a little trip? At least we can try to find the place, and then we'll go from there."

Elena actually hugged him for that.

* * *

By the time the Turks had located the Temple, it was too late. They arrived only in time to see the place, a huge pyramidal structure, cave in upon itself to form a gigantic hole in the ground. Reno got a call from Tseng moments before it happened, as the three watched the Temple of the Ancients' destruction from their helicopter a ways away.

Reno put the PHS on speaker Tseng's voice was soft and shaky, and he could occasionally being heard drawing in sharp breaths.

"_Reno, I want you to take over my position. Rude asked me to give it to you instead of him if anything were to ever happen to me. Tell Elena I'm sorry I didn't ever get to take her out, like I promised. I couldn't get out, I'm sorry. I'm badly hurt, but it'll all be over soon…Oh, gods…the walls…it's like they're melting…please…"_

And the signal cut short.

Elena screamed.

* * *

**Miya's Note: Well, how's that for a chapter? I hope you all enjoyed. Did I make up for the lack of action in the past couple? And, yes, Tseng's dead, despite Advent Children. Just wait until P3. It'll all make sense eventually.**

**Oy, writing the Wutai section was a nightmare. I didn't want to do too much re-writing of the game, because there's no point in that when you can just play, but I wanted to include enough to be a bit nostalgic, if nothing else.**

**Oh, and Rufus+Truck+PalmerLOVE.**


	29. Hell's Too Big for the Handbasket

Business As Usual

Chapter #29: Hell's Too Big for the Hand-basket

Miya's Note: Whoo! A semi-timely update AND the longest and one of the most action-packed chapters yet. I hope you all love it. I think I did a really good job of balancing the game content and the original, and I hope everyone agrees.

Well, we're getting close. It's just this chapter, then Chapter 30: In Memorandum, and the Epilogue: Lies (and I even gave you titles)! I don't know about all of you, but I'm really excited.

Really, really excited. I have a good chunk of the rest of the story all finished, including the ending of this chapter, the ending of 30, and the entirety of the Epilogue. That means that this should, hopefully, not take that long, assuming that I don't get writer's block on the rest of 30.

Did I mention that I'm excited?

I have a lot going in P3 already, and I'm ready to move onto that. I need a change, even if it's just to the sequel. Can you guys believe I've been working on BAU for over 2 years? It's gonna be nice to finish it, but hard. It's gonna be even harder to start narrating from Rufus' POV instead of Reno's. Weird.

As before, read White Flag if you still haven't, and don't forget to try the contest from before if you want. Time's running out. Just remember: e-mail, not PM, because PMs have been wonky.

Oh, and many thanks to Little Chiba's FF7 Script for any game text I used. I couldn't have done this without it.

Or, well, I could have, but it would have been a real pain.

* * *

I'd honestly never been to a proper funeral for someone I knew before. Interestingly enough, the only thing close to a proper funeral I'd ever been to at all before this one was for Tseng's sister.

Rufus wasn't crying. I didn't expect him to. He was simply sitting, very quietly, at the front of the rows of chairs, in all black, his face completely blank.

Because there was no grass anywhere around Midgar to hold the funeral on or to have the burial under, it was an indoor event, and the coffin that would have contained Tseng's body if there had been any body left--as was the custom with all deaths in our over-crowded city--would be thrown into the Mako vents, presumably to mimic the act of cremating the corpse and sending it straight into the Lifestream. The only difference between the death of a Shinra employee or plate-dweller and a slum rat when it came to the vents was whether or not there was a coffin around the body, figurative or not, when it went in. In fact, had this been a slum-rat, there probably wouldn't have even been a figurative burial.

When I looked out the windows, it was raining, like something you'd see in a movie. It made me even more glad we were inside. Midgar had major acid rain, and it would set your skin on fire, and leave you covered in a strange kind of spotty, bumpy rash. Rain aside, Elena was sitting in between me and Rude, understandably distraught. Both me and my best friend were holding her around the shoulders as she cried, while the both of us avoided tears at all cost. We had to be her rocks.

Our reason for not crying was very different from Rufus'. He just had a different view on death.

I had a second reason, on top of having to keep strong for Elena. Starting that moment, I was the Turks' leader. I wasn't just Elena's rock, but Rude's, which is funny when you realize that Rude is the most stone-faced and stoic of all of us. I was getting thrown into a lot of responsibility; responsibility that I didn't know, really, if I could handle. How did it come to this? I was just one of the slum rats. A lowly hacker from Sector 7. Now I was the leader of the Turks.

That was as high as a man could get, without being an Exec, or Rufus himself.

I started to get scared of falling.

* * *

After the funeral, while everyone was milling about, talking about the great moments in Tseng's life and how sad it was that he was dead, Rude watched, holding Elena while she cried to his chest, as his redheaded now-leader apologized and peeled off from the Turk group. Rude knew where he was going.

Rufus held the elevator door open as Reno ran toward him.

"You trying to skimp out early, without all the sad talk?" the redhead asked. "Nobody else is leaving yet."

"I hate funerals. They just anger me."

"Why?"

"Too many false pretenses. Too many people acting like they knew the deceased who didn't, and who just say nice things to be polite, as much as they may have actually hated the person who passed."

"Oh."

Rufus turned to his lover, serious. "If you must have a funeral for me, make it just you, Rude, and Elena. I don't need anybody else there. They'll just defile my body with their sugar-coated deceit. At least if you guys have anything bad to say about me, you'll just say it there. Even better, I'd prefer you or them tell me directly now."

Reno's heart dropped. "What makes you think you're gonna die before the rest of us? You're not gonna try anything funny, are you?"

"No. It's only an if."

Reno wasn't so sure, and his face showed it.

"Don't worry so much. Pretty soon, we'll all be going through hell, and _my_ death will be the least of your concerns."

"That's supposed to make me worry less?"

Rufus leaned in. "Listen, in the Temple of the Ancients, Tseng gave his life trying to get the Black Materia, on my orders. Tseng didn't make it, but AVALANCHE did. They currently have it, but I have a suspicious feeling that Sephiroth isn't going to have much trouble getting it from them. He gets that Materia, and he summons Meteor. I don't know why he wants it. I don't know why he would want to destroy the world, but if Meteor hits, there won't be much left of us or anything else."

"How do you know what it is? The Black Materia? I don't remember reading about that."

"Bugenhagen."

"Who?"

"The elder at Cosmo Canyon."

Reno thought for a long while, and then the blonde could almost see the gears in the crimson-covered head connect. "Oh, I remember now. I'd forgotten about all that."

Rufus slumped up against the wall, and pushed the button for a different floor. The two stopped, the elevator opened, but neither man moved. The elevator continued again, this time downward. "There has to be more. I can feel it, but it's faint," said the blonde more to himself than to his companion.

"Wait a second!" said Reno, staring intently at the floor that Rufus had lit up on the panel. "No, you can't be going _there_."

"Don't worry. It'll be empty. Hojo quit, remember?"

Reno slumped onto his respective wall as well, so he and Rufus were on opposing sides of the elevator. The blonde continued. "I talked to Reeve, who had his spy in the Temple with Cloud's group. The Temple itself was the Black Materia, but you could only change its form from the inside. Ingenious of the Cetra, wasn't it? He sacrificed the Cait Sith Entity prototype to get it, without knowing that Tseng was still inside, I presume, but he told me something else. Cloud has the Materia, safe, for now, but he was acting strangely. Reeve thinks he may be under Sephiroth's influence somehow."

"So you wanted to get it to keep it away from the madman? He just would have killed you, even with all your superhuman Rufus powers."

"I may have to take that risk. The Black Materia needs to be destroyed. We can't gamble Sephiroth, or anyone that may come after him if he doesn't succeed, getting their hands on the thing."

"Wow, you're starting to sound like a good guy." Reno chuckled.

Rufus didn't respond to that, but instead went off on another tangent. "I think Jenova has something to do with this. That's why I can feel it. It's like she's speaking to me. I occasionally hear a voice…my mother's, but I know it can't be her…" The blonde shook his head, holding his hand across his eyes in a visible sign of frustration. "I need to get into the lab, and hope that there's something of Jenova left there."

The elevator stopped with a ding. "Speaking of which…" trailed Reno. "I don't like this place. I really don't. There's just something creepy about it. Probably Hojo's…essence, or some shit like that."

Rufus dragged Reno out of the small lift compartment before the doors shut again. "Believe it or not, I've known Hojo for a long time, and he doesn't scare me as much as he probably should."

"Does anybody scare you as much as they should?"

Rufus noted the lack of his own "probably" in the echoed statement with a smirk.

He simply went on. "No, not that I can recall."

Reno trotted behind the blonde as he swiped his ID and stepped into the lab. "Do you know what you're looking for?" the Turk asked.

"Yes. I read Hojo's files. He had the manifest form of Jenova stored in a tank here. Sephiroth took it out, just before he killed my father and fled Midgar, but it was missing its head. My bet is that there's some of the head left in that tank."

"Eh? _Why_? If it was missing, doesn't that just mean Hojo probably found the thing headless?"

"Jenova's head was taken by a group of Cetra to try to stop her after she killed Yu Yahme and Sima. They destroyed the head, and sealed the neck's wound with a powerful magic so it wouldn't re-grow. But Jenova tried, and about every thousand years, would succeed, but the magic would cause the head to eventually wither and fall off."

"That's disgusting. You're looking for the withered head of a space parasite?"

"Basically."

Reno shivered, his face contorted. He stood back as Rufus searched the lab for the tank where Jenova had been stored. He found one, a permanent fixture in the floor, which had marks from a thin sword around the opening. The door seemed like it had been recently repaired. The blonde set one hand on the small, circular glass window near the top of the opening and the redhead watched as his body tensed and his head threw back in shock.

Reno made a slight move to go help, but Rufus hissed and drew back before the Turk could even really react.

"What's going on?" Reno asked, finally running to the President's side.

The blonde leaned against Reno's chest, his breaths ragged. "Sephiroth. I don't understand it. Why him? Why is that fucker always appearing everywhere? Why, Jenova?" Reno twitched as Rufus did, the blonde putting his hand back on the small porthole, his fingers tensing, causing his nails to scrape the glass with a shrill shriek. "The head…I have to get it…"

Rufus backed off from Reno so quickly that it caused the redhead's muscles to jar in surprise again, opened a couple of cabinets, found a large metal briefcase, and began to forcefully beat the door with it.

"Rufus, it has a latch," said Reno, unhelpfully.

"Yes, but I'm feeling particularly destructive today."

As the President beat on the door with a fervor that far crossed the border to the murderous insanity that always made Reno uneasy ("It's like stress relief," though Reno to himself reassuringly. "If he kills the door, he won't kill something that's actually _alive_."), the two men almost missed the slight scraping sound that came from behind them.

"Hello, Young Shinra," sneered a voice from a fittingly dark and creepy corner of the room.

"Good day, Aldous," Rufus returned pleasantly. "When did you get back?"

"Yesterday. So, the head is still in there, you think? Interesting." Hojo sneered in what Reno guessed was the closest the man could possibly manage to a smile. "You're right. Very good. I don't think it very like my son, though, to simply miss something so _obvious_, without having some reason for it, do you? This may be interesting to observe, and I will be able to stop targeting more _innocent_ subjects for entertainment."

One of Reno's eyebrows raised. _"Son?_" Reno butted in. "You're entire family is whack! Who the hell are you targeting, anyway?"

"You're lying," said the blonde indifferently. "You couldn't have returned yesterday, because I saw you on the cameras a few days ago. You've been back for a while, but you just thought to do so without proper company supervision? I don't like it when people try and do things behind my back, Aldous." Rufus continued to beat the door, and the lock eventually broke. "And no, I don't think Sephiroth simply missed the head. There was probably good reason for his leaving it. Most likely hoping somebody else would find it. I plan to see why."

"And cameras!" yelled the Turk, turning to his President. "You said he was gone, Rufus! And, did you stop to think that maybe Sephiroth's just setting up a _trap_?"

The redhead was ignored.

"What does he want with Meteor, Hojo?"

"The consciousness of the world. A wound so large that every soul on Gaia has to move in to heal it. The knowledge of all Gaia, gathered in one place and ripe for the taking. Imagine. Isn't it brilliant? He'll be a god!"

Rufus opened the tank and flung the door out of his way as he threw the rather dented briefcase to one side, and snarled back. "Too bad Lucrecia won't get to see the advent of her Son's grand transcendence."

Reno could see Hojo's cheek twitch, and a fire lit behind the Professor's eyes. Rufus simply stood and gauged the reaction with a sense of arrogant fascination.

"I'm sure she is not much worse off than your mother," hissed Hojo back, finally.

The two continued to stare at each other, the Professor this time observing as Rufus' eyes narrowed, though his slight smile remained.

"Oh, but she only died, and then was absorbed from whence she came. Your dearest, on the other hand, didn't even get that luxury, did she? I'm sure still pining over Valentine, too, in her eternal hell."

There wasn't even time for another stare-down.

Aldous Hojo, in a rather surprising move, suddenly dashed past the redhead, hitting him with his shoulder on the way, and tackled Rufus straight into the tank.

Reno stumbled into the door, his balance thrown, and it closed under his weight.

The Turk began to panic as the muffled yells of the two men in Jenova's holding cell mixed with loud thuds on metal as Rufus and Hojo scrambled around the tank.

Good thing Reno had noticed the latch.

The redhead had to move out of the way as the two fighting men burst out the door and rolled past him, Rufus holding something out of Hojo's reach that was oozing some liquid down his arm. In fact, both men were covered in some kind of goo that Reno assumed was the gel that had supported Jenova in the tank, but that he really didn't want to have to touch, for fear of contamination.

Rufus pushed Hojo off of him with his legs and jumped up, still holding Jenova's head. Hojo fell back The blonde walked up to the scientist, who seemed to be choking on some of the gel. Rufus kicked him square in the ribs, and he coughed.

"What is Sephiroth's connection with Jenova?"

Hojo continued to cough. Rufus kicked him again, and the Professor spewed out a glob of the goo that had caught itself in the back of his throat.

"Tell me, Aldous! She wants him to summon Meteor! Why him?"

"Because…I made him a…part of her."

Rufus slid Hojo back into the tank over the wet laboratory floor with his foot, and again slammed the door.

"Reno, let's go. She will guide us."

Hojo yelled, his voice muffled, from inside of the tank.

* * *

Reno chose to stay outside the shower this time, still very much against touching the slime all over the blonde's soaked body. He and the head of Jenova had a stare-down that seemed almost comically like a parody of the two men earlier, and the shriveled skull, its sunken eye sockets unchanging from inside of the glass jar that slightly distorted their already grotesque shape, somehow seemed to be winning as Reno's face tinged a slight green-yellow. 

"Reno, bring me a towel!" yelled Rufus from inside the bathroom.

"Gladly," the redhead murmured to himself, walking backwards from the jar instead of turning away from it in a uncontrollable bit of paranoia. When he was a satisfactory distance away from the head, Reno turned to the dresser and picked out one of Rufus' luxuriously fluffy, immaculately white towels.

With one look back across the room as if to make sure the jar hadn't moved and glad that he didn't have to step over any puddles of goo left by the blonde, who had obsessively wiped himself off as best he could before he and Reno had left the lab (as well as using that time to take the jar from the same cabinet where the briefcase had resided before it had been massacred in its use as a bludgeoning tool), Reno stepped into the bathroom, the steam of the shower almost unpleasantly warm against the uncovered skin on his face, chest, and hands.

"Thank you, Reno," came the slightly echoed voice from under the shower's spray.

"Are you scalding yourself in there?"

"Disinfecting."

"It's gonna be safe for me to touch you after this, isn't it?" Reno hung the towel on its bar.

"Not any less than before. I was already injected with Jenova cells. You can't be more contaminated than that." Reno could hear Rufus' chuckle. "Much more pleasant after I'm clean, though, I assure you. Gelatin and formaldehyde are not particularly sexy to be covered in."

"Is that all it was?"

"By the smell, that's my guess."

Reno took the chance, since he felt it was finally safe, to take off his now slightly damp clothing to let his entire body be exposed to the steam, which, once he had adjusted, had become a rather inviting touch.

"Mind if I join you? I feel dirty just from bein' in that lab."

Rufus slid the curtain open. Reno heeded the summons and stepped into the shower, but backed up out of the water once he felt how high the heat really was.

Rufus turned the knob slightly as he saw the redhead recoil, and Reno put his hand under the stream to test, and then stepped in.

Rufus took no time in closing the space between them, pushing his lover against the shower wall, lips to the nape of Reno's neck, skin still hot from the blistering water before. Reno let his head fall back against the tile with a contented sigh, welcoming touches that he hadn't felt in far too long.

"It's amazing," said the Turk, not wasting time to separate sense and speech, "how much you know. I can't even imagine…it must be wonderful…hard, to have to keep all of that knowledge. Knowing…all this time…that somewhere in the world is a power capable of destroying everything…"

"I just know where to look," said Rufus in between kisses that he trailed across Reno's collarbone. "While Hojo was gone, I searched his files. Learned all about Lucrecia, and the experiments with their son. All about Vincent Valentine's affair with his wife, and about the kind of a things a man will do when his heart's been ripped in two. Beside, when your family has built a power, itself, with as much, if not more, destructive force than ancient magic, the idea of a large rock barreling into the planet doesn't seem as threatening."

"You…_ah_…really pushed his buttons back there. Any reason?"

"Hojo's mad, which makes him easy to predict. If I could get him in that tank…He already knew where the head was…I knew he would go for it in trying to keep it away from me."

Reno clenched his teeth as Rufus nipped at the base of his throat. "Mmn," was all he could reply, as an affirmative to the blonde's statement and the sensations coursing through his nerves to that spot in the back of his head that made him shiver and clutch at the other man's lower back, pulling their bodies closer.

Rufus grabbed Reno's hands and pulled them up for the Turk to grasp the blonde, wet hair on his superior's head, and slid down the mercenary's lithe body.

Reno gasped. "This…little role switch we've been practicing lately…"

"Hmm?"

"It's…nice…"

"And?"

"I want…" The redhead was cut short by a tongue on even more delicate flesh than before.

"Mmn?" Rufus purred questioningly, the vibrations from the sound intoxicating.

"_More._"

The Turk caught a groan in his throat as the tongue pulled away. "Are you confident enough in your masculinity for more?" the blonde taunted.

"I don't give a shit about my masculinity right now."

Rufus hit one of Reno's ankles lightly with the side of his fist, which caused the thinner man to slip and topple with a yelp. "Good," Rufus' voice rumbled from that primal space deep within his chest as he caught the redhead with still-surprising ease before he could hit the hard porcelain of the large tub. Reno found himself with the back of his head supported in Rufus' hands, his shoulder blades against the smooth surface of the bathtub floor, and his legs supported by and straddled around the hips of the blonde, who was kneeling over him, eyes a little clouded over.

As one of Rufus' hands slid out from the tendrils of red hair down the length of Reno's spine, the redhead had a sudden pang of fear, and his entire body tensed up.

"Don't worry," whispered Rufus, and Reno had to read his lips to catch it over the loud pattering of the water on the President's back.

Reno couldn't help but to relax into the touch as Rufus felt, with a gentleness and care that Reno had never seen from the man before, into a warmth hotter than the water.

For the first time since he and Rufus had met, Reno somehow felt safe, though the blonde was stabbing into him as deeply as a knife and the world outside was slipping into the cataclysmic brink of despair and everybody could feel it's climax nearing.

Reno came, his back arched and his body impaled.

* * *

"Do we have to sleep with that…thing _right there?_" asked Reno, pointing to the jar on the nightstand by the blonde's side of the bed. 

"Jenova is a dream-speaker. If we are going to find Sephiroth…"

"Why are we finding _Sephiroth_ in the first place? Don't we need to look for Cloud's group? And, if they're gonna follow Sephiroth, won't Reeve tell us where they're going?"

"I don't trust Reeve to give us truthful information. He has lied to me once before. I sensed it, already, that Sephiroth has the Black Materia."

"_What?_"

"I don't know when he got it, or how, but Reeve assured me that everything was alright, although I can feel that it isn't. He said that Cloud had it all under control. Didn't want me interfering, I assume."

"Why would…?"

Rufus sighed. "He's one of them, now. We can't count on him as our informant anymore. I'm taking things into my own hands. We sleep, and we learn."

* * *

Reno took a long time falling into sleep, and when he did, his dreams were a blur of colors and sounds that caused him to toss and turn, restlessly. Red, white, pink, purple, green, and black. Flashes of color, with very little real form. On occasion, he could make out bodies, but each time he tried to get closer to see who they belonged to, another flash, and another color in their place. 

Rufus, in contrast, had a vision, not a dream, and his body was still as stone as he saw.

The images began with that of a clear lake. From beneath, he could just spot the glow of a small object, green as Mako light, and the water around it seemed to be resonating with the strange, eerie sound of a chanting requiem.

The images shifted. A vivid picture of Sephiroth's face, smiling madly. "All that is left is for me to go north. The Promised Land waits for me over the snowy fields," his voice sneered.

"Because you are…a puppet."

Then, blinding white, snow. The angry, paled face of Elena Pearce as she tried to hold back tears as she faced Cloud, blaming.

Lifestream. Endless Lifestream pooled within a great chasm that seemed to be calling to him. There, the song echoed again, the sullen voices of the spirits dripping with sorrow.

When Rufus woke, the movement of his sitting up suddenly jarred Reno awake.

"I am heading north, and bringing Hojo. She calls."

* * *

"I talked to Rufus," said Reno to the other two Turks. "He's had a…well, I guess you could say a premonition? I don't know if it's happening now, if it happened before, or if it's gonna happen. Maybe it wasn't even real, but I don't want to take the chance. He and the executives are going to the Northern Crater. I wanted us to go with him, but he refused. He said it'd be dangerous, which is exactly why I wanted to go with him…" 

"Reno, what did he see?" interrupted Rude.

"He said that he could feel that Sephiroth had taken another life. He didn't know whose, but that person had great power. He said that when that person died, the earth wept."

Elena sighed sadly. "Probably our only chance at pulling through this…gone…"

Rude looked over at her, and at the lack of hope in her bloodshot eyes. Then, he saw the shaking of her right hand as it grasped the inside of her other arm. He turned away, to the redhead. "What else?"

"He said that Sephiroth's going north, and then he saw another image of the crater. Said it was full of Mako, just like he'd imagined the Promised Land."

"That's all? I don't trust any of this, or Rufus," sneered the bald Turk, stepping to Elena and wrapping his arms around her.

"There was one more thing. Elena, he said he saw you. He said he thinks you were in Icicle Inn, confronting Cloud." Reno was deadpan-serious. "You weren't thinking of walking out on us and finding AVALANCHE on your own, were you?"

The girl gasped, her eyes wide, and she backed into Rude's embrace. "You don't understand! I saw it! I saw everything…while we were in the helicopter, like I was there…Tseng. Sephiroth attacked him…Cloud's group left him for dead in the Temple. I saw him die, and I couldn't do anything about it! I was right there, and so were they, but they didn't do anything! I'll kill them!"

Rude held on harder. "Elena, why Icicle Inn?"

"Reeve. I asked Reeve, and he said that Cloud has the Black Materia and is heading North; to the 'snowy fields', he said."

"He lied," said the redhead.

"I don't know how the President knows all of this…"

"Elena," chided Rude calmly. "I need to know something. What's wrong with your arm?"

"Nothing. Leave me alone."

"Let me see it, Elena. I need to know if you're injured."

"It's nothing, Rude!"

She struggled fitfully and tried to escape, but Rude only held her tighter. Reno walked up to the two to see if he could do anything to help, but had to back up quickly as he found a gun pointed at his head, as Rude's grip loosened. "Let me go, Reno. I don't want to have to do this," she hissed, stepping out from between her two partners. Reno saw Rude pull a small dagger from his side, clutching the wound.

"Don't, Elena. You could get yourself killed, and that's not what Tseng would have wanted."

"I talked to Hojo. He gave me the will to fight. He told me everything. Did you know that, with the Lifestream, you can be in two places at once? You can travel the will of the planet to find what's most precious to you? Tseng called to me, and I came. I came to the Temple of the Ancients, and I saw him die there." A spark flashed in Elena's eyes like green flame. Reno knew, immediately, that Elena was on Mako.

"Elena, how many doses did he give you?" came the Turk leader's voice, worried.

Rude looked over, surprised and confused.

"Just one. It's enough," the blond woman hissed back, and her arm twitched slightly where the injection had been.

Reno took a step forward. "It'll be gone by the time you get to Icicle Inn. What Rufus saw wasn't good, he said. You'll be weak. The cold will take you over, and you may die there, without even being able to do a thing to Cloud. Now, I'm ordering you to put the gun down…"

"Shut up!" Elena screamed, and she shot the ceiling, running out while her partners were caught off-guard.

Reno turned to his partner. "I'm following her. You're injured, so you'll be in danger in Icicle Inn's temperatures. I want you to get yourself healed, and then get on board that airship, and I want you to watch Rufus to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Got that?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Not Sir. I'm still just Reno, and I always will be. That's an order." And the redhead left.

* * *

In the helicopter, Elena shivered involuntarily, sweat running down her face in small rivulets. It was getting cold, but why was she burning? It seemed like an eternity before the helicopter landed in the snow. 

"Ma'am, are you sure you will be able to complete your task?" asked one of the Soldiers that had accompanied her. When she didn't answer, he leaned in closer, his eyes worried from under his helmet. "What I'm asking, Ma'am, is if you're going to be alright."

"Just, help me out of here," was all she replied, her eyes downcast as two Soldiers grabbed her arms to lift her gently from the helicopter.

As she spotted Cloud's group walking around, gathering information, her energy seemed to return, and she broke from her group and made a mad dash toward AVALANCHE, yelling threats and wheezing, her throat constricting from the cold that her skin could barely feel.

Elena could feel herself speak, but it felt as if another person was controlling her mouth. "You've really got guts doin' my boss in like that!" she heard herself say, and was surprised at the lack of the usual delicate sadness that laced her voice when she spoke of Tseng.

Cloud idly retorted that Sephiroth had been the one to make the attack, and not his group.

The blond woman's voice was harsh and angry, and she almost jumped as she continued. "No! Don't think you can fool me, liar!"

Cloud was hesitant as he defended his innocence again, unsure what to think of the new monster that had developed in the Turk's voice.

"Don't try to act innocent! I'll never forget it!"

Elena could feel her body weakening in an odd near-repeat of the scene in Wutai. Her whole figure wanted to fight. Her eyes thirsted to see blood. Her ears wanted to hear his screams.

A small part of her in the back of the still-sane part of her mind, as her fist drew backwards, hoped that Cloud would avoid her punch.

And when he did, she tumbled down the snow-covered hill from Icicle Inn into the dead lands of Great Glacier.

She was pleasantly surprised that she could actually feel the coldness of the snow, then, and her mostly-unhurt body was screaming at her to move from the frigid wetness that was quickly seeping through her uniform and freezing the once-blazing skin underneath. The cold had begun to clear her brain, but her body in its shock refused to move, and she shook, terrified of what she had let herself become, if only for a short time, and of her fate.

It wasn't long before she felt the clasp of armor-laden arms around her, no warmer than the snow she had laid in before, but which, thankfully, had begun to move her from the spot that would have become her grave.

She wasn't quite sure what was happening when--how soon after, she couldn't tell--armor was replaced with slightly warm, stiff cloth covering thin and bony arms. She could hear a voice, muffled and distorted in her near-hypothermia.

The hill was too steep for Reno to carry her back to the helicopter, so he yelled up to one of the Soldiers that was still above the slope to fly the helicopter above them and send down a rescue line. The redhead knelt in the snow, hunched over his newest partner, trying to keep the both of them warm.

"C'mon, Elena. You gotta pull through this. Don't go trying to join Tseng in the Lifestream, now. I can't bear to lose another one of you guys."

* * *

"So, I finally found you," said Rufus from far above the Northern Crater, from within the Shinra airship, Highwind, named after its creator, the fallen Captain Cid of AVALANCHE. 

He heard Scarlet's cackling laugh from behind him and cringed. "This is incredible!" she shrieked, leaning over the railing, her over-exposed chest propped up on the bars so as to flaunt what Rufus felt was a sickeningly overdone show of cleavage.

Since he had been younger, he'd had an almost-overwhelming urge to ask her if they were real. The urge was growing. If she slapped him, he would have adequate reason to fire her.

Heidegger's laugh was equally grating to his already edgy nerves. "This is the Promised Land the President has been looking for!"

Rufus knew that the General hadn't been talking about him, but about his Father, who had strived to find the Promised Land for very different reasons than he himself had. While Rufus wanted to use the place's bountiful energy to create a new life for the world, his father had only wished to expand, draining the paradise's plentiful Mako as he had that in the area around the original Midgar, until it tapped the world dry. "But, I'll be the one who gets it," the blonde hissed to Martinis Heidegger and Yvonnecka Scarlet before he turned back to the scene before him and stated in a coldly taunting voice to his father's presence in the Lifestream below, "Sorry, old man."

Rude turned from Rufus to Hojo, who had begun to laugh from one corner of the airship's bridge. "That land is no one's," sneered the man.

The bald Turk could see that Rufus had shifted his stance slightly at the retort, but he didn't say anything.

"It's where the Reunion will take place. I wonder if I will see…Sephiroth."

Rufus didn't turn as he spoke. "Oh, you will. He's here, she told me as much."

"Oh, so he has used her as a beacon, to bring you straight to him. It will be glorious when he absorbs your essence into his own."

Rude backed away from the Professor, seeing the fierce energy that transformed his face.

"Is that what your Reunion is, Aldous?" asked Rufus blandly. "The souls of the world, gathered in the Promised Land to be absorbed by Sephiroth so that he can become a god?"

Scarlet and Heidegger backed away from Rufus in a similar fashion to Rude's retreat from Hojo.

"Those with Sephiroth's cells within them and those infected by Jenova like you, young Shinra, will gather here, and he will kill you and take your life forces to grow stronger until he has the power to summon Meteor."

"I'm afraid to break it to you, Hojo, but there's only one god allowed in this world." Rufus finally turned, holding the jar with Jenova's head. Hojo, in seeing it, stood and walked calmly to the new era's leader, then struck, snake-like, and Rufus had to move quickly to avoid the jar being ripped from his grip. He dropped the jar to the ground and it shattered, and Scarlet backed away as far as she could from it with a shrill shriek.

Hojo picked the piece of his most beloved specimen from the ground, his hand's clenched around the head as it stared lifelessly at him, visions of his unfaithful wife's once-loving smile flooding into his mind.

Before Rufus could move to take it back, the ship jarred as it his a turbulent space in the air where the Lifestream had begun to swirl like angry wind, and the scientist stumbled to the side of the ship and dropped the head from its side, as Rufus tried to stop it. Inadvertently, by doing so, he had only served to save Hojo from falling, himself.

The Lifestream parted where the shriveled head fell, as if cringing away from the dark presence that this part of Jenova still held.

It was alright, though, Rufus realized. He didn't need her anymore. He had found what he had been looking for.

* * *

"We approach. Sephiroth is here," sneered Hojo, his hands covered in the formaldehyde gel and in some of Jenova's cells that he had squeezed from the head, which were staining his fingers a luminescent pink-purple. 

Scarlet ran in first, overzealous as always, surveying the place like a tourist at Costa Del Sol. "Wow, that's amazing! It's all Materia!"

The odd clearing was vast and cave-like, and the beauty of it culminated in a great structure of pure crystallized Lifestream that resembled a giant tree. The high walls of the cave seemed to have something within or behind them that towered over the group like a huge blue mass of rock.

Rufus looked around, taking in his surroundings with a slight smile. "The outside is rich with Mako energy. The inside is a treasure-trove of Materia. This truly is the Promised Land."

Hojo audibly sneered behind him. "There is no such thing as the Promised Land. It's a legend…an old wives' tale. It's utterly ridiculous."

Rufus turned to face the Professor. "Everything is as I imagined it to be. Isn't it splendid?" Rufus sneered back at the sickened expression that Hojo was giving him. "It is that kind of dullness that makes you a second-rate scientist."

Suddenly, the walls began to shake, and the sound the Materia gave off was like the singing of a glass. Rufus turned quickly in shock, recognizing the song from his visions, and he looked into the walls, searching. "What's happening."

Scarlet screeched. "It's coming from within the wall! Something's in there! It's moving!"

As Rufus looked, an enormous green eye opened on the mass of blue stone and looked back.

Hojo backed up slightly. "Weapon…Then it really does exist…I didn't believe in it."

"What does this mean?" asked the new President.

"Weapon. A monster created by the planet. It appears when the Planet is in danger, reducing everything to nothingness. That's what was stated in Professor Gast's report."

"I never saw that report," hissed Rufus, still looking at the eye. "Where is it?"

The blonde heard the rustling of papers behind him. "Here. Right here."

The eye blinked at Rufus. "You keep a lot of things to yourself."

Hojo walked up and handed the papers to the blonde. "Oh, but we can't have young Shinras snooping through the reports, can we?"

"Why are you giving them to me, if you obviously didn't want me to read them before?"

"I think that it may be useful for you to have the knowledge, now. I assume that you plan to fight it, when it wakes fully."

Rufus looked over the reports, and the eye scrutinized him carefully. "Where are the others?"

"Others?"

"The other Weapons. Neither you nor the reports mention others, but the Cetra wrote that there were more than one. Yu Yahme created them, and the planet took them after his death."

Hojo stepped in front of the blonde. "I don't bother reading fairy tales." Rude, from behind them, pulled out his gun, ready to stop Hojo by force if he tried anything.

"Oh, but if you did, you would realize that it makes no sense for the Weapons to destroy everything if they were made to protect." Rufus pushed past the scientist, and stepped closer to the eye.

Scarlet and Heidegger stepped further from the wall.

"Weapon!" yelled Rufus, and his voice echoed through the space. "Do you wish to kill me? Your master was Yu Yahme, but he has been dead for far too long. He was taken by Jenova. Is that who your enemy is? Those corrupted by Jenova? _Humans_?"

The eye grew wider, angry. Hojo stepped back, fascinated.

"You hear me! You are a obsolete power. The world is ours, now, not the Cetra's! Hear me, Weapon! We will destroy you!"

Scarlet rushed up, and Rufus was surprised that she had the nerve to lay a hand on him, jerking him by the shoulder away from the wall and Weapon. "Stop it! You're going to make it angry! Can't you see it's bigger than you! It'll just crush you, and all of us. Mr. President, I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Rufus' body relaxed, and he turned, for once calm, to the woman. "Hmm, perhaps we should return to the ship now. We need to prepare for the inspection, anyway."

As Rufus broke from her grip and began to walk back from the way in which he came, Cloud appeared in a flash of light, seemingly from nowhere, before him.

"Hey! Where did you come from?" screeched Scarlet.

"…don't know…" mumbled Cloud with a shrug. Rufus could see that something was odd with him.

"This place is going to get rough," said AVALANCHE's leader to Shinra's. "Better leave things to me and get out of here while you still can."

Rufus laughed, flipping the stray hair out of his face as he did so. "Leave things to you?" The President huffed. "I don't know what you mean."

Cloud turned away, gesturing upward and around the cave with his arms. "This is where the Reunion is happening. Where everything begins and ends."

Rufus could see Sephiroth in his eyes when he turned back.

As Tifa Lockhart and the red creature from his encounter with AVALANCHE at the tower entered, calling that they were there to help their leader, Cloud Strife clutched the sides of his head and looked like he was about to either scream or burst into tears. Shinra's President thought of making a move to help, but Cloud's hands shook, and he eventually ripped them away from his head and took a few, slow steps toward the creature.

"Thanks…Red XIII…"

Rufus noticed that something was different in the man's voice and his posture as he said this and stepped closer to the beast he now knew was called Red XIII.

"Where's the Black Materia?" asked Cloud, and Rufus wanted to move up and stop him from getting closer, feeling that something was terribly wrong, but something held him there. He could hear the light beginnings to Hojo's laughter behind him.

Tifa yelled her leader's name, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Red XIII spoke. "It's safe. I'm holding onto it."

Rufus wondered whether AVALANCHE had recovered the Materia from Sephiroth, or if he had been wrong all along.

Cloud spoke again, as if in a trance. "I'll take it from here. Give me the…Black Materia."

Rufus could only watch, his mind no longer comprehending the words of the group before him. Sephiroth…He could see the shadow of Sephiroth surrounding the body of Cloud Strife as he took the Black Materia.

No.

This is the end.

Rufus was broken slightly from his stupor as Cloud turned to him and, oddly, apologized, but didn't really begin to hear until the shrill, cackling voice of Aldous Hojo cut into his thoughts.

"This is perfect!" he screamed wildly. "It means that my experiment was a complete success. What number are you? Huh? Where is your tattoo?"

Cloud turned to the scientist. "Professor Hojo…I don't have a number. You didn't give me one because I was a failed experiment."

"What the…You mean only a failure made it here?"

"Professor…please give me a number. Please, Professor…"

"Shut up, miserable failure!"

Rufus' head was reeling. Sephiroth and Cloud were one, and the General was everywhere…in the room, above him…around him…inside of his very mind. Cloud…Sephiroth…was rising into the air. Spinning. Out of control.

There was a flash.

"Who was that?" asked Rufus to the Professor, breathless, as flashes of the Materia tree mixed with the sight of what was actually before him.

Hojo came closer. "He's a Sephiroth clone I created after the real Sephiroth died five years ago. Jenova cells and Mako, with my knowledge and skills, have been combined with science and nature to bring him to life."

_'Just like you, Specimen,' _hissed Rufus' own thoughts, darkly, his own voice mixed with those of Hojo's, Cloud's and Sephiroth's.

"I'm not wild about the failure part, but the Jenova Reunion Theory has now been proven. You see, even if Jenova's body is dismembered, it will eventually become one again. That's what is meant by Jenova's Reunion.

'It begins with the head.'

"I have been waiting for the Reunion to start. Five years have passed, and now the clones have begun to return. I thought the clones would begin to gather at Midgar where Jenova was stored, but my predictions were not entirely correct. Jenova itself began to move away from the Shinra Building."

'And she led you with her.'

"But being the genius that I am, I soon figured it out. You see, it was all Sephiroth's doing. Sephiroth is not just content to diffuse his will into the Lifestream; he wants to manipulate the clones himself."

'I will not be content to become his puppet.'

And the voice was only his.

He could hear Hojo, still ranting behind him, as he ran out, pulling Scarlet, Heidegger, and Rude along with him. The President ran to the airship, checking back to make sure his employees had followed, and ordered them to go on board before he ran back. Rude went to follow, but Heidegger, as his superior, stopped him.

"It's the President's orders."

Rufus had to really work to remain standing upright as the entire area began to quake. He dashed back into the cave, and looked up briefly to see Cloud standing, sideways against all logic, next to a silver-haired form within the Materia tree.

Rufus yelled to the group within the cave. "Whatever I say now is too little, too late. We must evacuate. I want you all to come with me. There is still much more I want to hear."

Red XIII wasn't listening, but was yelling up at Cloud. "Cloud, no! Stop! Please!"

Tifa yelled for Cloud as Rufus grabbed her wrist and dragged her with him. Red XIII and Hojo followed, the latter still laughing.

Cloud Strife handed the Black Materia to the true body of Sephiroth, who rested within the Materia tree, and the entire cave began to crumble apart as the General's eyes opened, his body filling with Meteor's energy.

"Cloud!" screamed Tifa as Rufus dragged her. "We can't just leave him here! He'll die for sure."

"Just shut up!" yelled Rufus back, gripping her wrist tighter and practically dragging her toward the Highwind as she fought with him, trying to run back to help Cloud. "This is the only time you're ever going to find me trying to save your sorry ass, so take what you can get."

'Cloud! Let me go! Let me…" Tifa finally went limp and fell to the ground, and Rufus just picked her up and carried her. Rude was watching, wide-eyed, as the President finally got her on board the airship.

"Is she…?" asked Rude.

"She's unconscious. Watch her for me. We're leaving Strife here. I will tell the pilot to take off."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

In the hotel of Icicle Inn, Reno's PHS rang. He picked up without even checking to see who it was. 

"_Reno, I'm…sorry."_ came Rufus' voice.

"What the hell are you apologizing for? What happened? You okay?"

"_He's going to summon Meteor. There was nothing I could do. I've failed._"

Reno jumped up from Elena's bedside, and the woman stirred slightly, but didn't wake. "What? How did he…?"

"_Strife was one of Hojo's experiments. A…'Sephiroth clone', he said. The true Sephiroth was in Northern Crater…it shouldn't be long, now, before Meteor comes. It's over."_

"Hey, you can't just give up like that, you know? Maybe there's still something we can do! We can still…maybe…you gotta tell me there's something we can do, Rufus! Do the Cetra say anything about what happens if Meteor is summoned? Is there a way to stop it."

_"Reno, if Meteor is summoned, the world ends. But I…I won't just die like this, like a coward. I'm in Junon. I'm going to watch it come. I just wish…" _Rufus trailed off.

"What is it?"

"I wish you were here with me."

"Elena is unconscious. You were right, she went to Icicle Inn to face Cloud. I'm here with her, but I think she's in a good enough condition…I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?"

"It has begun…"

"No!" Reno yelled back, holding the PHS a little ways away from his face. "It can't happen yet! Everything can't just end like this!"

"_Go outside. You have to see it…It's almost…I can't believe it, Reno. It's almost…beautiful."_

Unbelieving, Reno sprinted to the front door, opened it, and stepped through, closing it behind him so as not to let the cold air in to harm Elena further.

Thousands of miles apart, Reno and Rufus watched as red light spread across the horizon like a sunset in fast-forward. From the North, the red light gained form and began to swirl together. It blocked the sun and turned the world to crimson night as the mass of blood-like light grew dark and began, it seemed, to pull the very stars from the sky into itself.

Meteor came, but it didn't move.

"Rufus…what's happening? Why aren't we dead yet?"

"_Something…is stopping it. There's another energy keeping it from coming down. Do you see it?"_

Reno, still staring at what had become almost a second sun, could see a strange kind of force around Meteor. He wasn't sure what it was, but he found himself agreeing with Rufus that this had to be some other energy trying to stop it.

He thanked whatever kind of Cetra gods there were, and he went back into the hotel. As he hit the warmer inside air, he realized he was shaking violently, both from the cold and for fear of the sheer impending doom hanging above the head of the world.

"Rufus, I am taking this chance, and I'm coming to Junon."

On the other side of the line, Rufus hung up.

* * *

Rufus walked into the room where Tifa Lockheart and another one of her companions, the large man with the gun for an arm, one Barret Wallace, were sitting. "I thought Cloud would show up to save you all…Professor Hojo wanted to check up on Cloud, too." 

Tifa's eyes lit up. If Rufus thought that Cloud was alive, there was maybe some hope left. "What are you going to do to Cloud?" she found herself asking.

"Sephiroth's alter-ego…" Rufus looked down, flipping that ever-present shock of hair out of his eyes. "Meteor has been summoned. Essentially, it's all but over now, so there's no need for you…No, maybe there is an important task for you."

As if on cue, Heidegger entered. "President! Preparations for the public execution are complete."

Barret, in response to that, jumped up rather abruptly, his face twisted in anger. "Execution? What're you gonna get by executin' us?"

"You are to be executed for causing this situation. People are ignorant. They'll feel better as long as someone is punished."

Barret stormed up to the President, towering over him with rage, though Rufus didn't react. The man with the gun arm looked back at Tifa for a moment and then yelled into Rufus' face, a bit of spit hitting the young President as he did. "I take back what little praise I had for this damn jackass!"

Rufus calmly wiped the spittle from his face and turned, beginning to walk out. "Well, enjoy your last moments together.

Soldiers held Barret back as he tried to follow Rufus out of the room.

Rude was on the other side of the doors. "Sir, I hate to go against your wishes, but may I speak freely?"

"Rude, as I have known you, even if not personally, for some time, and because of the fact that I happen to be sleeping with your best friend, I give you free reign to drop the formalities and call me by my name, and to voice any complaints you may have in regards to my orders."

Rude grimaced. "…Rufus, do you think it's right to have them executed? Isn't it a bit harsh?"

"I don't see why you should think so. Your orders up until this point have been that you should kill them yourselves, so why is my having them die publicly any worse? Not only am I doing the job that you and the other Turks failed to do, but I am also serving to placate the masses."

Rude was silent.

"Unless there's something else, and it's not just that you are turning over a new leaf and you wish that we could all just get along. Is it Lockhart? If you do not think that I noticed the way you pined over her when she was unconscious and didn't know that you were practically drooling over her like a sick puppy."

Rufus saw the bald Turk clench his teeth.

"Oh, was that a bit harsh? I apologize, Rude, but in case you haven't noticed, the world is about to end, and I don't have time to be nice at the moment. Now, if you will excuse me, Weapon is topside, now that the Materia in the crater shattered and set it free, so I have some fighting to do."

Rude watched the man walk away for a short period, but just before he could get out the door, the Turk stopped him. "If the world's about to end, why do anything at all? Why fight?"

"I have to do something to keep entertained until we all die. You should do the same. Go be angsty or something."

And Rufus walked out, leaving Rude, who suddenly figured that, since doomsday was coming anyway, he could risk his job to try and save the woman he cared for, even if she didn't give a damn about him.

But when he got to where he wanted to be, he found that the job had been done for him.

* * *

At just about this time, a helicopter, water still dripping from its base where ice had once been, landed at the pad on top of Junon. Reno, who had flown the helicopter stepped out, ordering a Soldier to take Elena to the nearest doctor and to keep her safe. As he stood on the city's highest level, a fierce wind gripped the platform and set the red hairs upon the Turk's head blowing so hard that they whipped his face and neck, leaving barely-noticeable, painful welts. 

The ground shook. The reverberating sound of huge waves of water beating against the metal plates that protected the coastal city from the sea was almost deafening. The top of a massive, moving form was visible over the city top. Its color was that of a sapphire gem, and the light of the fiercely burning Meteor caused it to glisten. There was the sound of gunshots and yells in the distance, and Reno found himself running to the nearest flight of stairs to try and get under Junon's surface.

As Reno sprinted as fast down the stairs as he could without tripping, he had to stop and hold the railings as the great sound of an explosion shook the entire city and him within it.

He stopped, still holding the rails, the small space of the staircase seeming as if it were about to close in. For a while, there was nothing, but the sound of gunfire soon returned, along with the blast of sirens and the blinking, ominous red light that accompanied them. Reno could hear the sound of larger weapons' fire above the sound of the shots, and he wondered fearfully whether the explosion had been Junon's newly-installed cannon, or if it had been the city being hit.

There was another quake as Reno began to move again, slowly, down the steps. This one was different than before. There was no explosion, but only the sound of metal hitting metal.

They were being rammed.

* * *

Rude didn't know what to do. Tifa was still in the gas chamber where she'd been locked, though Reeve's Cait Sith Entity had rushed in to help Barret in attempt to save her. He couldn't do much more than watch from his place behind a locked, too-solid steel and bullet-proof glass door to the recording auditorium where the execution of the woman that he may have loved if given the chance was taking place, among the sounds of the mixed fires of Shinra and the Sapphire Weapon. 

He couldn't see what was happening within the gas chamber, but he could see Scarlet's laughing face behind another door, safe from the angry threats that were probably coming from the couple of AVALANCHE members who he, for once, really hoped would be victorious.

Then, there was an explosion, and smoke blurred his vision, filling the room on the other side of the door. When it cleared, there was a hole where a wall had been; a wall that connected to the gas chamber itself. He could see straight through the city's barrier, and the huge, green eye of Weapon almost looked for a moment if it were staring at him. And, as quickly as it all had started, the whole city shook again, and the fire of Junon's cannon reduced the great, green eye and the head of Sapphire Weapon to dust

Rude only hoped that the explosion had saved Tifa, and not killed her.

* * *

The doors to Rufus' office burst open, and he was ready to turn around and yell at whoever it was that had come to bother him, but his voice faded to a mere whisper and his expression softened when he saw the lanky, redheaded man in the doorway. 

Reno, finally to where he had wanted to be, slumped against the wall just inside the office with a sigh. Rufus watched as the Turk struggled to keep his breaths even, as if he had run a long distance.

The blonde ordered everyone except for Reno out of the room.

"So…how are you?" asked Reno, his voice breathy and ragged.

"I'm alright. The fortress suffered a lot of damage, we lost some men, and AVALANCHE escaped with the Highwind out of a hole that Weapon blew straight through the steel plating, but other than that, I'm just _peachy_."

"And Weapon?"

"Dead. Destroyed. Whatever word you would use to describe those things' demises."

"Things? As in multiple things?" Reno said, wheezing exasperatedly.

"Yes. My sources have found at least three more, in various places around the world. We have named them all according to color, in jewel tones because of the fact that they're _shiny_, just so Scarlet would shut up. That one was…"

"Sapphire, I know. I saw a bit of it." Reno looked up, grimacing. "So, what are the other ones?"

"Ruby, Emerald, and Diamond. There are rumors floating about of another one that is even nastier than the rest, but we don't know much about it, because it's supposed to be constantly moving." Rufus stepped over to the redhead, offering him and hand, and he helped Reno to get up and walk over to a chair. "Well, that's one down, I guess, and all we can do now is see who can hold out longer, until we're all just killed by Meteor anyway, and bide our time."

"Sounds fun."

"Exceedingly."

Reno leaned back in the chair. "I saw Rude on the way down here, when I got lost trying to find your fucking office. He was real upset. Said you ordered that Tifa girl executed, because you wanted scapegoats to keep the people placated. He likes her, you know."

"I got that."

"He also said you were a real ass about it."

"Well, he has to hate somebody, doesn't he? I'd prefer it be me than you."

Reno cocked his head to the side. "What are you talking about? Why would Rude hate me?"

"He's a bit…homophobic, if you haven't noticed. Probably comes from having a name like Gertrude. You, his best friend, are sleeping with another man. He's going to be angry at someone, and if he has someone to blame that isn't you, he's more likely to just think that you're being forced into it by my authority as President or something and to think of you as a victim, not a…well, a queer."

Reno cocked his head to the other side. "Oh. Uh…thanks?"

Rufus just shrugged, turning and looking out the window. "Heh, it's kind of ironic. I didn't realize it until I said it, but the reason I'm making Rude hate me is the exact same reason I was going to execute AVALANCHE in the first place. I wanted to give them somebody to blame for it all."

"Speaking of AVALANCHE, what are you gonna do about them?"

"I'm going to do the exact same thing that I've been doing for the past few months. I'm going to let them go. Maybe the masses will see them as the glorious heroes or something and start blaming us, instead. I don't really care, as this point, as long as they have someone to look up to as a hero and someone else to look down upon as a villain."

Reno smiled, leaning against his hand. "Yeah, I think we could all use a bit of simple black-and-white, fairy-tale logic to keep us feeling safe and sound right now. After all, the good guys always save the world, right?"

Rufus smiled back, but sadly. "But, in the end, we all know what happens to the bad guy."

The redhead's face went stern and his voice serious. "Not in my story."

* * *

That night, Reno was sitting in a bar, Rufus beside him, the blonde laughing mockingly at his stupid jokes and drinking from a glass of vodka. 

"That one was really bad," said Rufus, smirking, as he downed another large sip.

"I have another one. This one's better."

"I appreciate your trying to make me feel better about this whole situation, but I would prefer that you don't. I think I've had enough bad jokes for the evening."

Reno pouted for a long while, before he and Rufus suddenly burst into another bout of laughter.

Rufus paused and smiled at him, looking out the window and pointing, mesmerized, toward a blazing white streak that was descending from the sky like an angel being expelled from the heavens.

"What is that?" asked Reno.

"It's me. I'm going to die," answered Rufus simply, still smiling.

"…What?"

"Don't worry, Reno. There is no reason to fret over something you cannot change."

"I thought you didn't believe in fate."

"It's hard to tell what I believe these days."

The redhead frowned, his brows knitting together, only partially hiding the terror in the eyes below them, which wandered down slightly from the blonde's face. "Rufus, you're bleeding."

And it was true. As the two men talked, blood spread from a point in the center of the other man's chest, staining the cloth, both the black and the white, around it.

The President of Shinra Incorporated turned his head downward like a man in prayer, gazing softly at the crimson on his chest. He touched the cloth, and blood tipped his slim fingers. "So delicate," he said. "We're all so fragile, humans."

"You're not. You're strong. You're immortal."

Rufus' sharp nails cut straight through the cloth of his shirt and pulled it away from where skin should have been. Instead, there lay a gaping hole.

To Reno's horror, Rufus reached inside of his own chest, pushing through the back of his shirt and jacket. As he began to retract his hand, he paused, groping the side of the chasm and pulling out his heart.

He held it out feebly to the redhead. "Do you want it?" asked Rufus.

"Rufus, no…"

"Take it, please, Reno. I don't need it. _You_ need it. Take it before it dies like I will."

The heart slowly began to blacken and wither, and the Turk reached toward it quickly, trying to stop its decay. As his own, much rougher fingers closed around it, the heart once again turned scarlet, beginning to beat of its own accord.

It startled Reno, and his fingers let go before his mind could scream in protest. Instead of landing in a mass of blood as it should have, it shattered like a mirror--like a vial of something precious and irrevocably irreplaceable--turning clear and lying like sparkling tears on the floor.

Reno was left wordless, his mouth forming what seemed to be "I'm so sorry…" Rufus simply smiled.

"It was only glass. Just broken glass, as meaningless and easily replaced as any other commonplace possession."

"But…it was your…"

"Just glass, Reno."

"I'll fix it. I'll put it back together for you. I'll…"

Reno gathered up the shards and tried to fit them back together, but Rufus had begun to leave, stepping through the door of the bar into the cold, cruel, black night.

The redhead had no choice but to follow, leaving the shattered heart behind.

There was blood everywhere--not his, but Rufus'. The bar was gone. The blonde stood before him, staring at a macabre portrait of death.

Reno gazed at this picture, too, framed by the ragged edges of the hole through Rufus' body. The picture mirrored its frame perfectly, showing Rufus himself impaled on a metal girder sticking up sinisterly from the blackness.

Reno suddenly felt like a child. "Rufus…stop. Please, stop," he pleaded to the Rufus hanging limply in the air as the other seemed to simply fade away, forgotten.

"Stop what, Reno?" asked Rufus feebly as the blood ran down the beam through his back.

"Stop acting like you're not gonna make it…"

"Reno…"

* * *

Rufus awoke to a flailing and screaming beside him. 

"Rufus…Rufus, please…no…no……you can't…"

It took a moment for the blonde to realize that his lover was still dreaming.

"No…wake up…you have to wake up…you can't be…"

Rufus flipped over and pinned Reno to the bed and shook him.

"Reno!" he yelled. "Reno, come on. Whatever it is, it's a dream. Wake up!"

"Wake up, Rufus…please…"

"No, Reno, it is you that needs to awaken."

Reno woke with a start, the feeling of weight on his shoulders and sweat on his brow telling him that this was real.

"Reno…" Rufus whispered.

"Rufus…you're…"

"I'm right here…right here. You were having a nightmare. I woke up to find you yelling."

"…You're alive." Reno wrapped his arms around the man above him, pulling Rufus closer to his body almost expecting to be greeted by the feeling of warm blood against his chest.

The redhead felt silly for thinking so as the blonde replied simply and confidently, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Reno held Rufus close, laying the blonde's head on his chest and stroking his hair. Reno had been right all along. Rufus was strong. He was invincible. The blonde snaked his arms around Reno's waist, listening to his lover's slow, shaky breathing.

Rufus could only lay there, trying to remain calm from the fright of waking up to the other man's screams, and trying even harder to somehow will Reno's heartbeat to slow from its fevered and frenzied pace.

There was a long moment of silence as the two stayed like that, in each other's arms, before Reno finally spoke, unsurely and cautiously, almost as if more afraid of the words than the dream.

"…I…love you."

* * *

Miya's Note: Finally! Some real feelings in this thing! I've had that last section written for _forever_, and I'm happy I finally got to fit it in here.

And, before anyone asks me, it's not over yet. Stay tuned for the last two parts, and then for P3.

So. Excited. :D


	30. In Memorandum

****

Business As Usual

Chapter 30: In Memorandum

**Miya's Note: Holy Shit. I just finished BAU.  
**

** All that's left to submit is the Epilogue, which is already written. It's been a hell of a crazy journey, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. After the Ep. (which I'll**** get up in a few days. Don't want to post one after the other, but don't want to make you guys wait too long, either.****), I get to start a new (albeit connected) journey with _Parallel Threes_**

**This is a fairly short chapter, comparatively, but, believe me when I say that's a good thing. This one's chock-full of emotions and stuff, and I, for one, think making it any longer would have either been _too much_, or it would have just ruined it.**

**Well, since this is a special** **moment, I'm not gonna mar it with too many words. This is the last author's note in BAU. None at the end of this chapter, and none in the Epilogue. Don't track me down and lynch me if you don't like the ending, please! You've had fair warning from the start. (As always, read White Flag if you still haven't! It's the prologue, and it's not too long, I swear, and if you haven't read it, you may be a bit lost with how people got where they were at the very end.) Also, you must remember that though this is the end of BAU, it's not the real end of their story, itself..**

**Oh, and as a random note, P3 will, along with connecting everything to Advent Children, finally explain who the hell Reno's actually _telling_ the story to! Excitement!**

**I shut up now. Enjoy.  
**

* * *

Well, I could say that I was happy about my little revelation of that night. I could say I was thrilled, even.

I could say it, but I'd be lying.

Okay, so I was actually damn glad to have finally said it. You know, the _words_. It was like I had solved one of the world's great mysteries or some shit like that. It was a load off. It was kind of weird, though, because I was completely vulnerable from that point forward. Not just 'cause I'd admitted it to Rufus, but because I'd admitted it to myself. The gods only know how long I'd _felt_ it, but I know that being scared of losing him was the thing that finally got me to _say_ it.

It was the most feeling I'd put into those words, ever. I'd said 'em before, yeah. Usually, I'd not be so fucking scared of the damned _words_, though. Just words, I used to think. Just words. I'd tell the girls that I actually felt something for them to get them in bed with me. Nora meant a bit more, yeah, but I still don't think it meant as much as it did then…to a guy, even. Who woulda' thought it?

And it was like I'd taken a knife to myself and opened up my chest. No ribs, no skin; nothing to protect the most vital parts of me.

Guess what I had gotten in return for it.

Rufus had been Rufus, and as I should have expected (and stopped myself in that split-second I had to choose _not_ to say it), Rufus had reacted in a manner thoroughly suited to…well, to Rufus.

He had simply said nothing at all.

Hell, at least in the nightmare, he'd given me his heart.

Needless to say, I was a bit irked. The begrudgingly existent, hated part of me that's actually an optimist had almost expected him to, like, burst into tears of joy or something, and then throw the words back at me, laced with all sorts of pretty, flowery, rich-man talk that would make me melt like a prepubescent schoolgirl or something. (I don't think my masculinity has ever been as in danger as it was that moment. Man, I was a wreck…even more than now, I think, and that's saying a lot.) I just wish I'd gotten something out of him. Some words, some reaction. _Anything_.

Hell, he could have even just said it back all sarcastically, and I think I would have been happier than having him…nothing.

But no. This is Rufus we're talking about. He's about as stubborn as a fucking steel wall, and it would probably take something big to get him to say it, if he even felt it at all.

I like to delude myself and think that he did feel it, and I don't think anything's gonna change my mind about it unless he, you know, comes back from the dead and tells me he didn't, and all that sex we'd been having was _just sex_, and all those personal talks of ours were just him using me as entertainment all along, like he often claimed. Hell, even then I may not believe him, because he would still be, invariably, Rufus.

And Rufus lies. Just like every man, woman, and child in Midgar lies. Just like I'm lying to myself at this exact moment.

But, you know, the fact that he never said it back to me really can't change the fact that I really did feel like he…well, you know. I don't think I can say that…that not-just-a-damn-word again, alright? Not like this. Not with him gone and me here and everything else still stubbornly living on as if nothing happened.

But yeah, when we got back to Midgar, it sure did make my denial a hell of a lot easier, because the last time I ever went back into mine and Rufus' room in the Shinra Building, the first thing I saw was the painting he'd hung on the wall right inside the entryway.

It was an absolutely _gorgeously_ done, but unfinished picture of flowers, but it wasn't one of those girly little florals you see in hotels and things. These flowers were wicked. They looked poisonous, in blacks, reds, and greens, with this kind of purple-blue glow. These fuckin' flowers looked like they could kill you.

These were monster flowers.

In fact, these were the very same monster flowers that had been painted for me by Leanora Richmond as a get-well gift when I was in the infirmary with broken ribs.

I wasn't exactly sure what Rufus was trying to say by putting that painting right where I'd see it when I walked in, but I got the feeling that his intentions were good that time. Then, my doubt kicked in, and I couldn't help asking myself if he was mocking me. I walked closer to the painting, hoping to get some answers.

I did.

It had been expensively framed in the rich wood Rufus liked so much, with a small plaque under it that read, simply, "In Memorandum."

I think everything about me pooled into a great glob in the middle of my gut when I saw that, and I just stared at that plaque so long and so intently, running my hand over the etched words, that I barely noticed the apartment's front door opening behind me.

Arms snaked around my neck. His breath warmed the back of my left ear.

And for that moment, I could imagine that he felt it.

For that moment, I could imagine that I _knew_.

* * *

"Rufus, why?" asked Reno, turning and backing up. "Why this, why now, why…"

The blonde silenced Reno with a thin finger to the redhead's lips. Rufus smiled slightly and placed his hands on the other man's shoulders, drawing the two of them close again.

Reno moved to speak once more, but Rufus shook his head. He placed his hands gently--so gently, that it startled Reno far more than if he had taken out a gun and shot him--on tear-scarred cheeks.

A knot in the Turk's stomach tightened.

Rufus leaned just close enough so that Reno could taste the bitter-sweet of his breath. The blonde held his lover's face tighter when the Turk tried to bring their lips together. It became suddenly and blindingly obvious that Rufus had complete control, and the glint in his eyes seemed to urge Reno to simply relax and let him explore.

Ice eyes closed, and as the coldness left them between dark lashes it gripped Reno and he froze, his breath suddenly drawing more of Rufus' taste into his mouth before it hitched. The blonde loosened his grip, but Reno still didn't--couldn't force himself to move, watching eyelids and cheeks and lips as they softened into a strange, euphoric expression.

'I don't believe you, Rufus. I don't believe that any of this really means anything.'

Reno's eyes closed, too, for a split-second, as lips almost-brushed lips. Their noses touched, just slightly, and it seemed to surprise them both, and they drew back. Rufus was radiating heat.

'I need you to **prove it**.'

The ice was still gone from those eyes, and Reno shivered involuntarily as he felt it hang lazily around him. Rufus' fingers moved from his cheeks. One hand fell to the President's side, and the other dropped only a few inches to run lightly over the Turk's jaw line. A mischievous smirk graced the delicate features of Rufus Shinra's face, and Reno felt every muscle in his body tighten, and he still couldn't breathe, and the blonde was close--so close.

The ice returned to Rufus' eyes where it belonged, slowly, as their lips met, and the redhead warmed again as his own fire returned to him. At first, Reno was stunned by the kiss, but soon he felt himself relaxing--melting--into the touch that he had grown to know so well.

It was their first kiss again, with all the questioning, and the wonder, and the fear. It was their entire relationship summed up in a wordless show of adoration and passion and denial. It was the kiss that would define them in Reno's eyes, forever.

And it would be their last.

Reno collapsed soon after, almost inexplicably, the weight of everything--doubt, elation, love, fear--barreling him to the ground.

Rufus, dizzy from the pure, euphorically distracting dose of dopamine that had rushed to his head as their lips touched, and weak from his fight against a world whose fate he would refuse to share until it consumed him, fell victim to the weight of Reno's body against his and stumbled backward into the door, unable to catch the redhead as their bodies parted in the fall.

From the plush carpet of an apartment on Shinra Tower's seventh floor that would, in only a matter of too-few hours, be reduced to nothing but rubble, Reno Kiribani raised his heavy head to look toward eyes carved into ice, and at how they were accompanied by a newly-etched smile.

Reno knew, however, that ice sculptures were fleeting in the face of flame.

* * *

Rufus was fighting. Against all odds, he was fighting, and Reno's fear for him grew. Already, the redhead could see his lover growing weary, his resolve crumbling. Skin fair like porcelain became skin pale as ash, and once-full pink and almost feminine lips became chapped and dry and gray. Ice cracked in eyes, and the copper-gold of hair grew tarnished.

Reno's Yu Yahme had grown tired, it seemed, of immortality.

He tried to ask about it. Rufus had seemed so sure of everything when he had assured the Turk that he was alive, but everything about the man spoke of a coming death.

Rufus just wanted to ask him, "Don't you feel it? How near the end has grown?" He had tried to steal the redhead's fire to understand how he couldn't. He used that fire as fuel to battle.

But the more fire he took, the more tired Reno grew, too, and the President soon would not allow himself to feed on it when he saw the damage it was causing.

"Rufus, tell me you're okay again," said Reno, standing at the door, his small suitcase packed for another mission.

"If I told you, would you believe me?"

"I don't know. Making myself believe things I shouldn't has gotten a lot easier lately."

"I'm alright," was the simple and empty reply.

Reno touched Rufus' cheek and gave him the fire that he had silently refused to take.

And then he left, and Rufus watched him go, still frozen and silent from the ice that wouldn't melt, and that had always held him back from doing what _really_ mattered.

Words mattered. Fighting didn't matter, because Rufus knew it was futile. Still, it was all a matter of pride, and he would do it until the end.

He had sent Reno on a seemingly very important mission, to acquire a piece of so-called "Huge Materia" that may have, if used correctly (as according to Scarlet) been able to destroy Meteor. He knew there would be resistance to the plan. He knew in the deep pits of his mind that he would probably fail, so he secured the locations of as many of the materia as possible, as safeguards.

Which still, he knew, barely had a chance in hell of working.

Rufus remarked with a slight smirk at how his own incessant pessimism never ceased to amaze him.

He also remarked at the fact that it was rather oddly amusing that he was attempting to fight one big rock with another.

Over the course of just hours, Rufus Shinra got messages from various personnel in SOLDIER that, one after another, the transport of the Huge Materia had been intercepted by AVALANCHE.

Until only one was left, and Reno was the only futile hope he had.

* * *

Suddenly, it all made sense. It all came down to irony.

Reno stepped from the helicopter onto the still-debris-ridden platform at Junon.

Irony was that his last mission was in the city where it had all began, and where he'd longed to be for eight years, but that he, at that moment, wished to be back at the home he'd wanted to leave for far too long.

The Turk stepped down the many stairs toward where his mission lay, and each step made a strange sense of doom and dread grow in the back of his mind, the pit of his stomach (where it had been knotting itself up painfully for days), and the core of his chest.

Irony was the fact that flame was receding deep into the hellish pits of the earth, while ice was trying to touch the cold air of the heavens.

Step. His breaths echoed in the cavernous path to the underwater reactor that was his destination.

Irony was the fact that he had a gun and the keys to the helicopter and the realization of feelings that he had never felt or wished to feel; but that he _feared, _the same as he had on his first mission when he had been younger and naïve, with none of these things that he had, at one point, thought would make him a man.

Step, echo, step. His heart was beating so loudly it was filling his ears and threatening to make his skull shatter.

Irony was that he knew the gun was empty, and that, when he held it to his head and pulled the trigger, it clicked, and he found himself murmuring, "Bang, Kiribani."

Beat, step, echo, beat, step. He barely noticed the sound of the elevator doors that would take him the rest of the way to the reactor.

Irony was the fact that the only other person in the elevator was a man with a cigar and an arrogant sneer.

Echo, beat, echo. Reno watched the stone girders go by as he descended.

Irony was that he didn't notice, in the short space it was visible, the advertisement for the supposedly soon-to-be-built Junon Arts Museum that hung on the wall of one of the floors that he passed.

Ding, as the elevator stopped. Step, echo, beat, as he walked to his place. The sounds in Reno's head were drowning out the sounds of the SOLDIERs as they began to load the Huge Materia into the submarine that would take it to Rocket Town to be blasted into space, hopefully to collide with Meteor and destroy it.

Irony was Cloud Strife suddenly standing behind him, making snide remarks.

His thoughts were broken. Reno wasn't in the mood to fight. Lacking any usual vigor or urge to quip back, he sent a robot that he, ironically, knew would lose in battle to AVALANCHE.

Irony was that he had gotten to the point where he didn't care.

The faster this finished, the faster he could get back to Midgar. The robot fell, but the submarine got away. AVALANCHE commandeered a submarine of their own to follow.

Still, Reno didn't care.

Irony was the fact that the one man that Rufus had ever truly feared had, in all actuality, grown too afraid to act.

Whatever. Fuck the mission. Fuck fighting.

Step, echo, beat, echo, step, as he--tired--climbed the stairs again.

On the helicopter back to Midgar, Reno watched as a light was propelled into the sky from the horizon in the general direction of Rocket Town. He watched as the light collided with Meteor. He watched as the light became brighter as it hit, and the sound that echoed through the atmosphere went from deafening to utter silence in a matter of seconds.

Meteor, only slightly damaged from the rocket and Materia's blast, was putting itself back together.

As Meteor rebuilt, their last chance shattered.

Reno didn't see it the next morning, long after he had pulled into the city, that the Weapon that had been labeled Diamond had risen from the depths of the sea (that he, himself, had just left the night before), and was heading straight for Midgar. He, ignorant except for a feeling of dread in the back of his mind, the pit of his stomach, and the core of his chest, met up with Rude and Elena with a forced smile, just before the alarms started to sound.

All of Midgar looked up to see the recently-moved cannon from Junon that had killed this Weapon's Sapphire-hued kin, and wanted to feel safe, but couldn't.

And though the world was ending, though the legacy of a God named Simayahme, the legacy of a family named Shinra, and the legacy of a world named Gaia had lost all hope of life beyond the looming force of Meteor's crash; seventy stories in the air, a single ant, dying, too, from the exhaustion of its long journey in search of food for a nest and a queen that had, unbeknownst to it, been destroyed not twenty minutes before, crawled onto the desk of Rufus Shinra and quickly had the life snuffed from it by the hand of the last perhaps-God to walk the earth.

In feeling how easy it was to kill it, the perhaps-god wondered...

'How much thought does an ant put into dying?

What is the last thing running through its mind before the shoe, before the spray, before it is lifted to the sky and crushed between thumb and forefinger? Exactly how much thought, if any, does an ant put into dying? Does it think of its queen, or its friends?

Does an ant have friends?

Or maybe it agonizes over how it failed in life. Perhaps, instead, in realizing it is nothing more than an ant, it can die in peace: "So that was life, and this is death. There I was, and here I go. How pointless."

Or maybe it just thinks, "Damn." And then it dies.

It's funny, isn't it, that as I stand here knowing, somehow, that I am going to die--whether it be by Weapon, or a futile mistake I make in trying to save myself, or even in nothing dramatic like that where, instead, I trip down the stairs ten minutes from now and break my neck--I find myself thinking about ants?

I wonder what that says about me. Do the ants represent something? Maybe that's how I see myself, or Reno, or the people of my forsaken city.

Or, perchance, they are just ants, after all, and I am spending my last precious moments of life contemplating insects.

Weapon's looming in the distance like mechanical Death on the horizon. They tell me it's coming straight for Midgar, but Scarlet says we're prepared, the stupid bitch. She says the cannon is ready, and she decides to give it a name, the Sister Ray, but I know better. I try to resist laughing. How silly, to name something that will probably be destroyed in a matter of minutes. How silly, to care about names when you're about to die, as I knew we both were soon going to.

Not as silly as ants, I guess.

But, it doesn't hurt to play along. After all, you can't hurt a dead man.

So "Fire," I say simply as Weapon nears. Scarlet's Sister Ray cuts through the thing and destroys it as easily as if crushing an ant. But this one decided to fight back, and all that I can do is watch as the beams of light fly toward me like a reflection of our cannon's fire.

So, I have changed, Mother. I would have just stood there before, but now I'm running from the light. I run from that burning, blindingly white light toward the only darkness I can find.

And I realize that I just jumped through my office window.

Yes, I tried to save myself, Mother. I found my reason to live. I wonder if Reno can feel as well as I do how much closer I am to death. I gave him my gift. The question is whether he ever learned how to use it.

I never had vertigo before today. Now that I'm falling, I see why people were so afraid of heights.

As I attempt to stop myself, I feel my right shoulder rip from its socket. I tried, Reno. Aren't you proud of me, or am I being a masochist again? I know I am going to die, so why try to avoid the inevitable, when all it brings is pain?

But, nonetheless, I try again, and I am hanging onto something with my other hand. Not much farther, and it's over.

I am sorry, Reno. I cannot hold on.

So that was life, and this is death. There I was, and here I go. How pointless.

Reno, I lo…'

* * *

"Damn," was all that Reno Kiribani could bear to say. "Damn," was the only thing that he could manage as he came upon the impaled body of Rufus Shinra.

But "Damn," just didn't seem to adequately express what ran through his head at that moment.

Dead.

Rufus was dead.

No.

No, Reno couldn't believe it.

He wouldn't.

He moved quickly, running over the debris as fast as he could. Sharp pieces of the shrapnel of Midgar's lost battle cut into his skin, tearing gashes through his clothes, straight into his arms and legs.

He tripped once, and he stumbled many times, but he kept running, his body deteriorating more the farther his soul forced him to carry on.

The body was too high up for him to reach. He had to find a way, so he began to make a pile of the wreckage, having to ignore the presence of other corpses in favor of the man who, in death, ruled them.

He didn't notice as Rude and Elena emerged into the battlefield. They stood silently as their brother-in-arms fought to reach the God of Midgar. Rude's eyes lowered to face the ground. Elena's stared at the redhead, wide with confusion and fear.

Reno began to push the body from its pike. As he pushed it closer and closer toward the top, the two other Turks saw his struggle and ran to his aid.

Together, they brought Rufus down, and Reno dropped to the ground with him, cradling the blonde tenderly over his knees. He was blind to the blood over the man's form that had quickly begun to stain his hands and clothing. He held Rufus closer to him, hunching over and burying his face in the blood-soaked shirt.

And he began to cry, the slight spasms spreading the blood over his cheeks.

After a long while, he stopped and sat up slowly, looking down into Rufus' pale and unmoving face. He smiled softly, but failed to stop his tears.

Rufus' eyes stared back, neither cold as ice nor hot in passion, but empty and ash-gray as his skin.

"Rufus, hey…you're gonna be alright, okay?" Reno said, quietly, despite the lack of life in the gaze that couldn't quite lock with his. "I'll save you. Midgar's your fairy-tale city, right? We're gonna have a happy ending. I'll save you, just like you did for me. Gotta return the favor, right? Yeah, I know I'm being selfish again. That's what you're gonna say. I'm being selfish."

"Reno."

The redhead gasped slightly, staring hopefully at the blonde's lips, pleading with his eyes for movement, even though his subconscious told him that it was Rude speaking.

Irony was that he had almost expected the lips to move.

"Rufus, c'mon…wake up, okay? Everything's gonna be fine now. I'm here to save you."

"Reno, stop. It's no use. He's…"

"C'mon, okay? Just wake up…wake up! Please Rufus! You can't do this to me!"

"…dead, Reno. Reno."

"Why are you doing this? _ Why won't you wake up, you son of a bitch_?"

"What's going on, Rude?" asked Elena meekly. "He was just our boss, right? I don't understand…"

"Just don't, Elena," reprimanded Rude gently.

"You're a bastard, Rufus…you're such a fucking bastard…I hate you! I hate you!"

The city was still. The cold metal of the wreckage seemed to ring with the echoes of Reno's screams, along with the ragged breaths of a lover killed inside by another's death. The ringing became song, and filled the redhead's mind.

Reno Kiribani looked up at his fellow Turks, tears cutting though Rufus' blood on his cheeks.

He spoke to them softly.

"He's not gonna wake up, is he? He's really dead…"

Rude and Elena were completely silent. The ringing chants grew louder. Reno felt like a child. His own screams' song was a lullaby from a mother he never knew. It was the loud music of bars on lonely nights that, with enough alcohol, could stop all negative thought. It was a smooth tenor voice in a bed on floor seven of a building that no longer existed, singing in ancient words he couldn't understand.

But, still, he wasn't comforted.

"Rufus, I'm sorry…my God, I'm so sorry…I couldn't save you."

There was nothing he could do. Reno had lost the battle.

It was over.

Dead, finished, done.

Even Midgar's metal dirge had grown suddenly silent.

Gone.


	31. Epilogue: Lies

****

Business As Usual

Epilogue: Lies

By Miyamashi

Everything I've ever said has been a lie, and everything I say now is. Every word that will ever leave my mouth will be laced with some form of untruth.

But don't be afraid.

When you don't understand the lies, all that means is that you've never lived in Midgar. I mean _really_, as truly as you can manage, _lived_ in Midgar. None of that pussy living on the plate for a few months kind of shit, but really living and experiencing Midgar life, especially slum life, and, even better, Shinra life.

Because if you had, you wouldn't be afraid. You'd just know.

That's when you can really see what's under all the lies they tell those rich shmucks living in the plate bungalows and mansions and fancy loft apartments. Midgar's the city of death, and sadness, and pain, but the city that would never believe it.

Even though its crumbling down around our heads, the city is still made of our fantasies, and it'll never really fall as long as we continue to lie. It was built on those lies, and that's the strongest kind of foundation. Even the very way it was built shows that we're trying to cover something up. Pretty plate hides ugly slum-town underneath. Lies. All of it. Bullshit in every corner.

It was built on the idea that the only way to go is up.

Rufus proved that wrong--that there's always room to fall.

But the lies; you get used to 'em after a while. You learn to live with 'em, you learn to thrive on 'em, and you suck the life out of all the so-called truthful things. And you kill 'em, because you can't stand to think that there's somebody out there who doesn't have to live like this.

They're the truth because they throw their lies on us. That's all we are: some saintly dreamer's fantasy. He dreams, and he has nightmares, and he locks it all up inside Midgar's walls and the lights and the Mako and the tower, and we become that dream.

I thought Rufus was the dreamer, once, and, in a way, he was. But more than anything, he was the walking incarnation of the Lie. He was absolute beauty covering an ugliness brought on by years of dreaming things that would never come true, and then having to live the nightmares. He was cold, cool impartiality covering an all-consuming fire that would have burned any other man to ashes. He was the man who trapped the child inside, and the beast who caged the man.

And he was our most fantastic fib, raised to the pinnacle of the unreal city by the liars.

The dreamer was the liars' dream, too.

It was what made us real. In the world of reality, people exist because they eliminate lies and fantasy. The world of fiction lives because we admit that their discarded fantasy exists. We know we're human, and that we're flawed. We know, and we accept our fate.

Who's to say who's the more real?

I loved him, I still do, and a part of me always will. Even that, the most sincere, most _real_ feeling I've ever had, is laced with poisonous traces of Lie.

He was my favorite addiction.

I'll never know how he felt about me. Frankly, the present situation makes it damn hard to ask him, his being dead and all.

But, in following with the rules of Midgar, he didn't love me, and for me to say he did would be as much of a lie as saying I loved him.

And, in that same sense, I say it, and I lie, and I make it real.

So it is.

So now, with Rufus gone, and me standing here with all I've ever known collapsing into dust, I hope you'll understand, and I hope that you'll believe me.

Make it true.

Because, there's only one more lie to tell:

"And we lived happily ever after."


End file.
